For most companies, both listed and private, an opportunity exists to make the employee share incentive scheme process more engaging for their employees. However, this area has always been a rather admin-intensive, manual process with little fanfare and not enough opportunities to really connect with the participants it serves. Ultimately, Reward and Finance teams need to capitalise on the touchpoints offered in the share incentive scheme process.
Employee connection will pull your business through all uncertainty
It’s predicted that burnout rates and employee productivity will reach all-time lows throughout 2021. Despite remote working still being a novelty, it’s starting to weigh heavily on those trying to balance hybrid models and for those who require staying completely remote. After a full year of survival mode and remote working, many employees feel unconnected, misaligned and displaced rather than ingrained and valued within their organisations.
Therefore, it’s of the utmost importance that business leaders who are empowered to enrich employee touchpoints, do exactly that. And something as data-centric and admin-intensive as share incentive schemes can be transformed into something that deeply regards the human factor.
Why use share incentive schemes as touchpoints
Companies are always looking for new ways to incentivise, motivate and keep employees aligned with the company’s long-term growth goals. Share options are a low hanging fruit that with some digitalisation, can be transformed into a truly helpful and uniquely delightful experience for your staff.
Those who are brave enough to harness technology can use the awards issuing process to reinforce the company work culture and remind them of the end goal – both their personal investment end goal as well as the company’s. Below are some of the ways in which technology can achieve this.
The hurdle: rewards teams are buried in admin
For most rewards team, the issuing process is admin-intensive, lengthy and manual. With heads down trying to avoid the dreaded “N/A” on excel spreadsheets and the manual preparation of grant letters, it’s hard to look up from the daily grind and think of innovative approaches to the process.
Using an outdated system when issuing awards is no fun. It means wasted valuable time spent on mundane tasks that are prone to human error and disconnecting your rewarded staff from the end goal – to make employees feel worthy and invested.
How can technology be used to improve employee engagement?
Within the context of share incentive scheme management, technology can add great value simply by freeing up time to the rewards teams so they can use the awards issuing process as a way to connect with their employees. Technology can take a three-week preparation process and cut it down to minutes (or at least, ShareForce can!). Ultimately, rewards teams are freed of administrative burden so they can think strategically about how to use the awards issuing process for a higher purpose.
The below outlines some on-the-ground examples of how our clients use ShareForce to better connect and incentivise their employees:
An online employee portal
Having a platform like ShareForce provides your participants with one single source of information and updated news around their share options. With their own login details, they’re empowered to check their awards and letters whenever they like, from wherever they’re working. It also means the elimination of having to manually email personal information. Furthermore, it’s a touchpoint that helps participants to understand their schemes and potential wealth connected to their performance or service conditions. Richer still, is the display of live market data.
Personalised grant letters & other communication
Imagine being able to create a personal touch for each employee but without the risk and time spent on collating email addresses, writing letters and doing frustrating merges. ShareForce lets reward managers send all the relevant details that come with issuing a new scheme on a mass scale. Ultimately, this is the most important touchpoint on offer and a great opportunity to really connect with staff. Being able to roll this out efficiently at scale but with the human factor applied to the process, elevates the whole experience.
Conclusion
Although technology such as ShareForce provides a holistic approach to Share incentive scheme management across all its involved functions (Finance, admin, rewards), you can see the impact it has on even this one area of the business. Sometimes technology is not just about transforming the way you do something; but the way you (and more importantly, your people) see it.
To view a demo of the ShareForce Incentive Plan management tool, fill in the form below or visit www.shareforce.net/contact
