Determinants of Share Plan Participation

Abstract

Employee share plans have become a common feature of today’s labor relations across the globe. This also applies to Siemens. Since 2009, Siemens offers an equity portfolio to almost all employees worldwide and has met with great success. Whereas the overall employee participation rate is still increasing, there is potential for participation rates to increase at a local level. To tap the full potential the “Equity Culture Enhancement Project 1.0” was developed. It proved that cost-efficient localized communication measures are the key to increase equity awareness and participation rates successfully. Now the challenge is to understand on an individual level what causes employee participation on the one hand and what keeps employees from participating on the other. The “Equity Culture Enhancement Project 1.0” was adapted to meet these objectives and the “Equity Culture Enhancement Project 2.0” was initiated. By introducing a four-step approach designed to develop the best possible communication approach in order to establish equity culture, lessons learned from the Equity Culture Enhancement Project 1.0 were taken into account and corresponding communication measures were developed. Within the used four-step approach a special emphasis was now put on analyzing and addressing individual drivers of participation and nonparticipation. The Equity Culture Enhancement Project 2.0 classifies countries according to their individual employee structure and current awareness and participation rates. Tailor-made communication measures derived from this classification were designed to meet local needs most efficiently. Effective monitoring revealed that the developed four-step approach is a successful tool to design cost-efficient and tailor-made communication measures in order to increase participation and entrepreneurial thinking in the long run.