Employee Share Ownership Plans: How to Design and Implement an ESOP in Canada

Whether you want to attract and retain skilled workers, create a succession plan for a family business, combat the "brain drain," recognize the contributions your employees have made to your company's success, or need a way to turn your company around through improvements in productivity and morale, an ESOP could be the win-win solution for your company.

An ESOP is a formal plan that allows employees to purchase shares in the company the work for. Employees think and act like owners because they do actually hold a very real stake in the company. Not only are ESOPs financially beneficial for employees; companies that offer these plans also reap tangible rewards in improved motivation, communication, productivity, and profitability.

Employee Share Ownership Plans is a comprehensive and practical guide to every aspect of designing and implementing ESOPs:

• Explains the various objectives of an ESOP and the types of plans that exist.
• Outlines all the processes that are at the foundation of implementing an ESOP: determining employee eligibility, financing, creating the implementation team, communicating the plan to employees, troubleshooting, and more.
• Covers the more technical aspects of setting up an ESOP, such as business valuation, tax implications, legal requirements, and creating cross-border or international ESOPs.
• Includes hands-on tools such as sample letters, shareholder agreements, and a comprehensive resource guide to ESOP professionals, web sites, and associations.
• Features case studies, checklists, questionnaires, and frequently-asked questions.

ESOPs are becoming an increasingly important component of compensation and incentive packages, particularly in the high-tech sector, knowledge-based industries, and in any company that relies on a highly skilled workforce. They are very flexible and may be used in many types of situations for a variety of purposes. Because of their adaptability, no two ESOPs are the same, and each plan may be designed and custom fit to a particular culture and type of company.

This book will help business owners and managers, as well as their professional advisors, create a competitive advantage for any organization, publicly traded or privately owned.