If you run a business – no matter how big or small – attracting the right talent and retaining the highest-calibre people are always top priorities.
We specialise in providing strategic and practical advice to both public and private companies on the most effective and tax-efficient ways to reward and motivate their employees.
We also offer practical advice and support in the wider employment tax landscape, including internationally mobile employees, settlement agreements and remuneration packages.
What do our employee incentives experts do?
Our lawyers advise businesses and their owners on the design of the most appropriate employee incentive schemes and strategies to secure the best talent available while keeping costs down and employee engagement and tax efficiency up.
We advise on and implement all of HMRC’s tax-advantaged share plans:
- Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) Options: typically for smaller faster growing start-ups and scale-ups to bring in and retain the employees that will deliver success but when available cash doesn’t allow for the payment of high salaries.
- Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) schemes: typically for more mature companies that want to pick out and reward the key employees likely to have the greatest influence on the success of the business.
- Save As You Earn (SAYE) or Sharesave Schemes: usually used by companies with a larger workforce where it is important to involve everyone on the delivery of success, even if each individual’s contribution is only a component part of that success.
- Share Incentive Plan (SIP) Schemes: often used by more mature companies with a more sophisticated workforce and where different types of incentive will be more attractive to different parts of the workforce.
Where tax-advantaged schemes aren’t flexible enough to achieve a company’s commercial goals, we design incentive structures and work alongside clients to put in place bespoke solutions which meet their objectives. These include:
- Growth share schemes: directly rewarding key employees for the growth in value they deliver in a tax-efficient manner for them and the company.
- Long Term Incentive Plans (LTIPs): combining both cash and share-based reward structures for companies looking for more flexible arrangements.
- Cash-based incentive plans: allowing employees to realise remuneration on the journey.
Why instruct us?
Our clients instruct us because we have such a strong reputation for designing and delivering the right incentive arrangements. To do so requires two things:
- to clearly understand what your business goals are and who will be influential in achieving those goals, and
- to have a good understanding of clients’ commercial journeys so that we can discuss and recommend the optimal arrangements for the next phase of that journey.
With so many of the Gateley team having sat on all sides of the commercial table, from advisers to investors and as entrepreneurs ourselves, we’re uniquely well-equipped to help you implement effective employee incentive schemes and employee share schemes by:
- advising you on which type of share incentive arrangement will work best for your business and your employees;
- drafting all the relevant paperwork and managing the award process to ensure the smooth implementation of your chosen arrangements; and
- helping your employees to understand the packages which are being offered to them.