What are Staff Shares?
Staff Shares are shares in the company that you work for. These are given to you by your employer via a ‘Staff Share Scheme’ of their choice, and are a way of ensuring that staff have the opportunity to share in the company’s success.
Where can I find my Staff Shares?
Open the Sharesies app, and your Staff Shares will be under ‘Investments’ and your company’s name.
What are the different kinds of Staff Share Schemes?
Here are five main types of share schemes.
Employer funded
An employer pays for then allocates staff shares, typically with a fixed ‘vesting period’. E.g. 3 years.
Co-funded
An employer and employee both fund the purchase of shares. The employer may choose a percentage discount to shares, or top up an employee's individual contribution. They could also offer a loan, or payment plan that can be paid down by the employee during a fixed ‘vesting period’.
Employer top-up or bonus scheme
An employer may offer a discretionary share bonus to employees who purchase shares. After a fixed vesting period, employees who are eligible for a share bonus for things like tenure, or performance may get additional shares, on top of the ones they purchased.
Options plan
An employer allocates a known number of share ‘options’ at a fixed price to employees. Once allocated, these ‘options’ turn into shares upon the completion of a ‘vesting period’, and can then be exercised, held, traded or sold.
Share rights and restricted stock units
An employer allocates a number of share ‘options’ to become shares on a specified date after the ‘vesting period’, subject to certain conditions. E.g. The company achieved 70% of its performance requirements, so each staff member will receive 70% of their share ‘options’ as shares.
Where can I find more details about my Staff Share scheme?
All of the details about your scheme can be viewed in the Sharesies app, simply follow the ‘View scheme details’ link within your employer’s scheme.
Find out more about your current and future allocations in the Sharesies app too, to view this go into the ‘Your investment’ tab, within your employer’s scheme.
Can I buy additional shares in my company or any other company?
Absolutely! You can purchase shares in your company easily through the Sharesies app. There’s no minimum spend. Including your own company, you can choose from thousands of companies and ETFs on the Sharesies platform, in New Zealand, Australia and the US.
My employee shares aren’t showing up in Sharesies, who do I contact about this?
You should first contact the nominated person at your employer, whose details you can find in the ‘ the ‘View scheme details’ link within your employer’s scheme.
I have other employee shares from a previous employer, can I transfer those in?
If your employer was an NZX-listed company, and you have full ownership of them, then you can transfer these to Sharesies. Learn more about how to do this.