Award: Best New Employee Share Plan
Recipient: Melissa Quah (Solium) for Red Bubble
Reason For Award:
Red Bubble have created a unique and exciting employee share scheme (ESS) that is tailored to their unique and diverse employee base. The Employee Ownership Australia & New Zealand (EOA) judging panel were encouraged to see Red Bubble fostering employee ownership and have the initiative driven by the co-founder and now CEO. It is exciting to learn of the adoption of a monthly vesting to meet the Silicon valley focus of the company combined with the offer of options which is rare to see in Australia.
The judging panel also noted that another standout factor in the application was the 99% participation rate amongst employees.
Awards: Most Effective & Innovative Communications Award, People’s Choice Award
Recipients: Kitty Buchanan & Brett Tollman for Woolworths
Reason For Award:
Woolworths created an innovative and personalised 90 second video that clearly and effectively communicated their Recognition Share Plan (RSP) to their employees. The Employee Ownership Australia & New Zealand (EOA) judging panel were excited to learn of the innovative solution that allowed for the personalisation of the plan down to an individual’s name and division – this was particularly impressive considering the diverse employee base and past scepticism of previous plans from some employees. Congratulations on making the skeptics your champions!
The use of video content over more traditional modes of electronic communication resulted in over 80% of employees engaging with the content. Having 97% of surveyed employees thinking that the video was helpful or very helpful and further 98% saying it was very effective is proof of the success of the communication. The judging panel also noted that engaging managers to follow up with their employees face-to-face was also a great initiative to complement the video.
Award: Fostering ownership over 1,000 employees
Recipient: Sue Benefield from Dulux
Reason For Award:
Dulux have created and maintained a strong culture of employee ownership that is prevalent across the whole company. The Employee Ownership Australia & New Zealand (EOA) judging panel were impressed by the fact that whilst Dulux have a global plan with a contribution element, it still has a 70% take up rate amongst employees – this is exceptional. The plan also has some elements that are unusual (e.g. match is based on performance, use of rights instead of shares for the matching element) and yet the take up rate clearly shows that is well communicated and understood by a diverse workforce
It was great to hear of the promotion and championing of the plan from the Chair and CEO which aligns with the key message for employees and the purpose of ownership – to run the business as your own.
It also very encouraging to see the valuable increase in holdings ($8,200 per employee over 3 years) and a strong commitment to focussing on long term ownership
Award: Best International Share Plan
Recipient: Matthew Reed (Head of Client Relations at Computershare) for CSL Limited
Reason For Award:
CSL Limitedhave continued to grow their employee share scheme (ESS) across their diverse global employee base. The Employee Ownership Australia & New Zealand (EOA) judging panel were very impressed to learn of the take up of around 30% considering it is a contribution plan that is operated globally – this is an incredible achievement. It was also encouraging to hear of the growth of the plan over time, which has now been in operation for 15 years has spread to 33 countries.
The judging panel also noted the fact that 70% of participants still hold the shares allocated to them – this is a significant percentage in a climate where a large number of employees tend to sell at the end of the restriction period.
