BrightPlan, a leader in Total Financial Wellness, today announced its new Equity Compensation Planner, available as part of the company’s Total Financial Wellness solution. The new robust global capability gives employees the digital tools and professional financial guidance needed so they can view and manage their employer-provided equity compensation. This enables employers to better retain and engage top talent by demonstrating the value of equity compensation, a key component of an employee’s total rewards package.
In the current environment, employee priorities continue to shift as they reevaluate their professional and personal lives. As reported in the 2022 Wellness Barometer Survey, 86% of HR leaders are struggling to find ways to attract and retain quality workers, followed by 65% who are challenged to engage employees. The Equity Compensation Planner helps with these key challenges by providing a transparent view and deeper understanding of the value of an employee’s company-provided stock, which may include RSUs (restricted stock units), an ESPP (employee stock purchase plan) and stock options.
Equity compensation is a complex topic for employees, as many are unaware of the value their equity represents as part of their total compensation and how to exercise their options. Studies show that employees value their equity compensation more when they receive education and advice.
“Employees often underestimate the value of a benefit if they don’t understand it fully,” said Marthin De Beer, BrightPlan founder and CEO. “People often leave jobs for higher salaries without comprehending the larger value of the equity they leave behind. Employers have a responsibility to provide the education, tools and resources that empower their employees to navigate the complexities of equity compensation, which can motivate them to lean in to accelerate company value and stay with their employer longer.”
Through its self-serve digital capabilities, BrightPlan’s Equity Compensation Planner enables employees to track estimated equity value in near real-time for public company stock, view potential value over time, and have visibility into trading windows to know when they can trade their equity. Employees also have access to tailored educational content to learn about how equity compensation works. The solution is supplemented with unlimited access to BrightPlan financial planners with deep expertise in the company’s equity compensation offering. These financial planners can provide personalized advice to help employees make the most of their employer-provided equity, while keeping the employees unique financial position and needs in mind.
“The Equity Compensation Planner helps employers support their global workforce by providing resources and education about their equity compensation benefits,” said Holger Mueller, VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. “This new capability also enhances an employer’s retention and engagement strategy; when employees understand the value of their company-provided equity, they are more motivated to stay and add value. Finally, BrightPlan helps HR teams mitigate risk by answering financial-specific questions that HR may not be licensed or legally qualified to respond to.”Key Capabilities
The Equity Compensation Planner is a comprehensive feature that covers tracking, visibility and best practice advice for equity benefits across stock options, RSUs and ESPP. A number of powerful, 24/7 capabilities allow employees to:
- Track Value: View the present and future value of their equity
- Obtain Equity Events Information and Notifications: Track stock options, RSU vesting events, ESPP purchase events, and get timely alerts via push notifications
- Estimate the Right ESPP Contribution Amount: Access a calculator to understand the impact of ESPP contributions to take-home pay
- View Trading Windows: See when company trading windows are open to know when to sell stock and receive push notifications to understand when the windows open and close
- Learn About Employer Equity: Read dynamic educational content including related articles and webinars in the BrightPlan Academy
- Receive Global Support: Employees around the world of U.S.-based employers will be able to use the feature to manage their RSUs, ESPP and stock options
- Engage with Financial Planners: Employees have the ability to talk to a financial planner and get guidance on optimizing their equity compensation strategy
Optimizing Equity With Investment Strategies
In addition to the Equity Compensation Planner, employees can link other investment accounts into BrightPlan and have the ability to see all their investments in a single place. For diversification, BrightPlan also offers automated investing in the U.S. through three key portfolios: ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance), Factor and Index.
BrightPlan follows the best practices of investment management, which includes customizing portfolios according to an employee’s goals, risk tolerance, time horizon and other preferences while minimizing costs and maintaining diversification. The platform lets employees easily evaluate the concentration (proportion) of their company-provided stock options; and gives them the ability to further diversify and invest to grow their potential earnings.
