We all know that the quality of your employee communications program is essential to gaining employee support and enthusiasm for your stock programs. But, sometimes it's hard to find fresh ideas on exactly how to go about communicating with your employees. You know the general idea; presentations, FAQs, intranet, information packets, e-mails, etc. There are two basic pieces to conquer: what communication methods work best for your employee groups and what content should you provide.
It's great if you can ramp up your learning curve by taking advantage of others' experiences. You can do this by seeing how other companies communicate to their employees and by learning what has been effective for them. Unfortunately, because many companies are hesitant to make their employee communications public it can be difficult to find sample communications to compare against your own.
One big exception to this is any program or corporate transaction that involves a Tender Offer (such as options repricings or mergers). Because every communication regarding the transaction must be included as an exhibit in the Schedule TO, you can find great samples on how other companies have approached the communication process. You can search for these filings on the SEC website either by company or by the Form type ("SC TO" for Tender Offers). Even better, you can use the Full Text Advanced Search to drill down on your search criteria. For example, you can use the Boolean phrase search to find the phrase "options exchange" (keep the quotes in there) used in any Form SC TO-C. You can even narrow it down by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).
You may also choose to search the news first for companies that have filed a Schedule TO with the SEC. For example, Intel's option exchange progam has been in the news recently. VP and Director of HR, Richard Taylor, has been doing a great job of trying to stay ahead of the rumor mill with informative updates like this one. In this communication, Taylor has taken some of the common questions that he's received regarding the options exchange program and addressed them publicly (and in several languages). This is a fantastic strategy not only for options exchanges, but for all of your equity compensation programs. The truly advantageous part of finding communications like this for the rest of us is that it provides a window into the types of problems that companies may be encountering. If you see that another company has had to address a particular issue, you can turn around and try to proactively provide information to your employees to squelch that particular issue.
Of course, there are many other types of communication that would be wonderful to have samples of. We do have a variety of sample communications in our Document Library. Remember, though, that sample documents are just that; samples. You can use them to get ideas or to see if other companies are dealing with similar issues, but you should not expect them to be templates that you can just plug your company's information into and use. I would like to encourage all our members to submit whatever communications materials they can to the Document Library. Sometimes the best resource a stock plan professional has is another stock plan professional!
Also, if you are looking to put some zing into your ESPP communications strategy, don't miss the Conference Session of the Week from Barbara's Tuesday entry!
-Rachel