Equity Compensation Services

Practice Overview

Aon is home to 70 equity compensation experts who partner with organizations around the world to ensure they make the most of their investment in stock-based awards — from the design of a strategic equity plan to managing award valuation and financial reporting requirements to educating plan participants to balancing corporate vs. shareholder interests, and everything in between.

Our team — including accounting, communications, tax and valuation professionals — leverages their deep technical expertise and experience to help companies, their boards, and employees effectively use and manage equity compensation in a strategic, meaningful way while balancing company, employee, and shareholder interests.

Why is Equity Compensation an Ongoing Challenge for Companies?

Equity compensation, including employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs), performance-based awards, restricted stock, restricted stock units, stock options or other forms of stock-based equity, is complicated for both total rewards professionals and award recipients.

The desire for companies to instill a shareholder-like mentality in their employees is important, but managing the cost and dilution of equity awards is a constant challenge, plus regulatory complexity is always evolving.

For equity compensation to deliver maximum impact, awards must be communicated transparently, built in a cost-effective and legally compliant manner, and well-designed to motivate the right behaviors (e.g., business performance, ownership culture, retention, etc.).

Common challenges include:

• Designing a plan that both strategically meets the goals of the company while also motivating key employees;
• Meeting shareholder and proxy advisor expectations, including burn rate and overhang;
• Keeping up with the constantly changing expectations from employees, which ultimately drives companies to explore different plan designs and more frequent changes to equity design and grant practices; and
• Shifting macroeconomic constraints on top of evolving labor market pressures which cause total rewards professionals to re-focus on what really matters: leveraging data and insights to understand the holding power of equity on critical talent.

Why Work with Aon

Aon’s equity strategy and communications team helps organizations with employees effectively leverage their equity compensation by designing equity plans and communicating effectively with plan participants.

Our areas of expertise include: