Specialist Adviser - RM2

As well as designing and implementing employee share plans, we provide compliance and administration services for those plans, and we also advise companies on Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) transactions, including the establishment of hybrid share plans running alongside an EOT.

RM2 has supported private and smaller listed companies to set up and run equity incentive schemes, ranging from EMI share option schemes for start-up companies to complicated growth share plans, as well as larger scale all-employee share schemes such as the Share Incentive Plan (SIP).

One of the first advisers to take advantage of the new EOT legislation in 2014, for the past decade it has supported business owners on EOT transactions, enabling a succession solution that benefits both sellers and employees.

RM2’s experience in the sector means they have worked with 1,500+ businesses – 100+ of those who chose an EOT – as well as contributing to share scheme policy design and advocacy and supporting the eoa with research insights to measure and quantify the sector as was shown with their recent involvement and sponsorship of the Knowledge Programme. 

Most recently, RM2 compiled and published the Top 50 EOTs by size.

In Our Words – What We Do and Why

“We live and breathe employee ownership, being employee owned ourselves.

“We have an experienced and dedicated multi-disciplinary team, including accountants, solicitors and share plans administrators, which ensures we can provide the ‘cradle to grave’ service our clients need.  

“We work right from the initial design of the EOT transaction or share plan, through implementation, to a post-implementation service designed to meet all the necessary compliance and reporting requirements.

“We understand that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to share plans will rarely meet a client’s objectives and we work in partnership with you every step of the way.

“Our team has been involved in the design of Share Incentive Plans (SIP) and Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) legislation and in commenting on guidance, policy and market practice relating to employee share ownership.

“Being true specialists, we can either provide everything you need, or easily work alongside your existing advisers.”

What Does This Look Like – Our Recipe for Great EO

• Information: we have a variety of webinars, blogs, factsheets, checklists, and other information on our website to help you make the first step - or you can just have a chat with one of our specialists and go from there.
• Design: we will listen to you so we understand about your needs and business objectives, and help identify the best form of employee ownership for you and your employees.
• Advise: whatever your choice, we will then support you whether with a transition to an EOT, adopting an employee share scheme or often a mixture of both (Hybrid).
• Technical support: we can provide you with an EOT feasibility analysis to see if the transaction is right for you; or advise you on how best to share reward under a share plan. 
• Ongoing compliance: Once your plan is in place, we can support you on everything from trustee compliance, managing corporate changes, and HMRC reporting to make sure your EOT or share plan continues to work for you.

Top Tips

1. It’s worth undertaking a feasibility study to see if an EOT is the right route for you and your business.
2. Employee ownership does not have to be about exiting your business, it can be part of a plan to attract, grow and retain the right talent and culture. Even if you have a share plan already in place, we can give it a health check to ensure its fit for purpose as your business flexes and grows.
3. While there is a large technical element to what we do, capturing your values at the start can help with identifying what type of employee ownership is best for you and your employees.