This article is brought to you by our sponsor Yorkshire building society.
Never have share plans been able to meet organisations’ increasing needs more strongly to attract, retain and engage employees. In an increasingly competitive world, organisations have to get the best out of their teams and continuously improve business performance. The critical source of competitive advantage in an organisation is now more readily recognised as its people and share plans are increasingly seen as a way to engage employees in company performance, and are featuring more heavily in HR business plans. According to a January 2006 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development report: “Organisations that offer share ownership programmes to their employees outperform similar organisations that don’t.” Today, millions of employees participate in a variety of share plans with all-employee share plans, in particular, continuing to remain attractive to employers and employees alike. They often make a real contribution to performance goals as their value lies in engaging employees in achieving company objectives and achieving a strong culture within organisations by rewarding employees tangibly for their performance.
So how do you engage employees with a share plan on offer? It is not enough to just sit back and expect your plan to work. Only with tailored marketing strategies, ongoing communication and maintenance will the plans help meet organisational objectives, motivate staff and benefit the business. Marketing and communications plans need to be continually reshaped to incorporate new technology to reach every part of the workforce. Employers are now using new technologies, such as the web, touch-tone telephone application processes and SMS text application processes to target different employee segments and the future will see online seminars (webinars) and iPod downloads.
Employers should consider share plans as an integral part of their total reward package and many organisations are using employee portals to ensure the value of share plans are materialised in the longer-term. Employers are able to deliver strong key messages aligning with wider business objectives, reaching employees quickly, clearly and cost effectively.
Jill Evans, Head of Corporate Business, Yorkshire Building Society
The views and opinions in this article are those of our sponsor, Yorkshire building society, and do not necessarily reflect those of www.employeebenefits.co.uk.