We host a monthly webinar series on executive compensation. At this upcoming Thursday’s webinar (held at 10:00 am Central on March 9, 2023), we are covering compensation designs and market practices associated with compensating key employees of a start-up corporation. Topics discussed include: (i) how to share in the dream without cash outlay, (ii) ideas
Compensation Design
Thoughts When Linking Public Company Executive Pay to D&I Initiatives
This Post will begin a series of blog entries focused on the topic of linking executive pay to a publicly-traded issuer’s diversity and inclusion (“D&I“) initiatives. As background, there has been a recent push to hold executives accountable for the effectiveness of an issuer’s D&I initiatives by linking their executive pay to the success of such initiatives. Pretty straight forward (i.e., the success of the D&I initiative becomes one of the metrics in the issuer’s performance-based compensation strategy).
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Interplay Between SEC Human Capital Rule, Compensation, D&I Initiatives and Proxy Disclosure
On Wednesday, September 30, 2020, we will be hosting a webinar entitled “The SEC’s New Human Capital Rule, Workplace Diversity and Compensation Design: Year-End Disclosures and the Board Agenda 2020”. The purpose of this webinar is to cover the SEC’s new Human Capital rule and how such disclosure will interplay and impact any diversity…
Public Companies and ESOPs: Check Yes or No
We host a monthly webinar series with the intent of teaching a narrow topic deep (as opposed to covering the surface of a wide topic). Our webinar for the month of July will be held this Thursday (July 9, 2020) at 10:00 Central and is entitled “Public Companies and ESOPs: Check Yes or No” [Sign Up Here].
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Select Administrative Issues to Consider When Granting Equity Awards
The purpose of this Post is to highlight some of the administrative issues that should be vetted any time the Compensation Committee of a publicly-traded company effectuates a grant of equity to key employees. The below list is not exclusive and is listed in no particular order:
Share Counting Provisions
- Verify the Equity Plan’s Share
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Current Compensation Issues (Part 7 of 7): Does It Make Sense to Consider a Secular Trust for Deferred Compensation
The purpose of this Post is to highlight the question of whether, in today’s economic environment, deferred compensation monies should be secured with a secular trust. This Post is Part 7 of a 7-Part series addressing compensation adjustments that Compensation Committees could consider in order to continue to incent and retain their executive officers in today’s economy.
Background
It is well-settled that the assets of non-qualified deferred compensation programs are subject to the claims of the company’s general creditors. Securing the assets with a Rabbi Trust does nothing to change that answer.
With today’s market volatility and many companies struggling to survive, some executives may not value deferred dollars because of the fear that these deferred dollars will be swept by the company’s creditors. And if the executives do not value the program, then the program is not providing the necessary incentive and retention benefits. So does it make sense to consider a different vehicle or approach?…
Current Compensation Issues (Part 6 of 7): Modifying or Terminating a 10b5-1 Trading Plan
An executive of a publicly-traded company would not have anticipated today’s market volatility and depressed stock price when he or she entered into a 10b5-1 trading plan in 2019. As a result, this executive will probably want to amend or terminate such trading plan. The purpose of this Post is to provide a quick reminder of the applicable issues that should be considered. This Post is Part 6 of a 7-Part series addressing compensation adjustments that Compensation Committees could consider in order to continue to incent and retain their executive officers in today’s economy.
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Current Compensation Issues (Part 5 of 7): Revisit Stock Ownership Policy Requirements
The purpose of this Post is remind publicly-traded companies to revisit their stock ownership policies to determine whether a temporary waiver of the policy requirements is advisable. This Post is Part 5 of a 7-Part series addressing compensation adjustments that Compensation Committees could consider in order to continue to incent and retain their executive officers…
Current Compensation Issues (Part 4 of 7): Retention Packages to Discourage Poaching
The purpose of this Post is to highlight whether Compensation Committees should be offering retention packages to their executive officers to discourage their being poached by another company. This Post is Part 4 of a 7-Part series addressing compensation adjustments that Compensation Committees could consider in order to continue to incent and retain their executive…
Current Compensation Issues (Part 3 of 7): Address Outstanding Performance-Based Equity Awards
This post is part of a 7-part series addressing compensation adjustments that Compensation Committees could consider in order to continue to incent and retain their executive officers in today’s economy. The titles of each of the 7-parts in this series are listed at the bottom of this post. This Part 3 is entitled “Address Outstanding Performance-Based Equity Awards,” and provides some alternatives that Compensation Committees could consider with respect to outstanding performance-based equity awards that have currently unachievable performance goals. Such alternatives include (listed in no particular order, and not an exhaustive list):…
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