Share plan providers in today’s world

In today’s competitive landscape, share plans are more than just a reward mechanism; they're a strategic lever. They help businesses retain top talent, align employees with company performance, and boost overall engagement. However, the real success of these plans often hinges on something less visible: the internal administrative team or individual and the share plan provider and technology behind them.

A share plan provider delivers the software, services, and expertise that allow companies to design, implement, manage, and report on employee equity schemes efficiently and at scale. Their offering becomes an integral part of the operational stack for people, finance and legal teams, especially for growing or global businesses that require nuanced control and reliable execution with their share plans.

Internally, a share plan provider touches multiple roles. Share plan managers are typically at the core, ensuring operational delivery and day-to-day management. Company secretaries and senior HR or finance professionals are often key decision-makers and strategic users of the data within the share plan platform. Payroll and legal teams may interact with the platform too, especially during events like vesting, leaver processing, or reconciling with financial results. And while the administrative benefits are significant, let’s not forget the end users, your employees. A seamless experience on the employee side translates to greater uptake, clearer equity communication, and stronger trust in the plan itself. Which in turn delivers greater alignment with the company's long-term strategic goals and helps reward employees as the business reaches desired milestones.

What to look for in a potential share plan provider

So, what should you really expect from a share plan provider? Here are the key areas where the best platforms truly stand out.

1. Make complexity simple at scale

Equity plans aren’t one-size-fits-all. You, the internal champion of share plans, may be running a mix of RSUs, performance awards, share options, or even tax-advantaged schemes such as EMIs across different geographies. A strong share plan provider should make it easy to design and implement multiple plans, with the flexibility to reflect unique rules, vesting conditions, or performance criteria, all without overwhelming your internal team with additional administrative headaches. A single source of truth, with all the tools you need to adapt and manage share plans at scale on an ongoing basis, is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

2. Minimise manual work and admin burden

The right share plan platform will automate routine tasks, grant processing, leaver handling and vesting calculations so your team doesn’t spend hours managing spreadsheets or reconciling data. It should reduce repetitive data entry and allow changes to flow automatically through the system. This includes connecting with existing HR and finance systems, allowing data to flow freely and reducing the manual inputs to everyday share plan management.  When processes are automated, your people can focus on driving strategic value, not firefighting day-to-day operations. 

3. Drive accuracy in reconciliation and reporting

Finance and HR leaders need confidence in the numbers, whether that’s for monthly financial reporting, end-of-year statements, or reconciling with payroll and finance systems. Errors are costly, not just financially but in time and credibility. A good share plan provider ensures data integrity and transparency, with robust audit trails and integrations with your existing systems to keep everything aligned. How the platform helps with identifying data issues, rectifying them quickly and preventing them from happening in the future, should be a key consideration when evaluating a share plan provider.

4. Deliver a great employee experience

Share plans only deliver value if your employees understand and engage with them. Given that 79% of employees said that equity has a positive impact on their motivation (State of Equity 2025), the employee dashboard should be intuitive, mobile-friendly, and clearly explain each employee’s equity. From onboarding to key events like vesting or maturity, a good employee dashboard will provide simple and clear instructions for employees to understand and engage with their equity when needed. Visualisations are also very important for employees, giving them visibility of vesting schedules and allowing them to forecast potential liquidity events. These features are even more useful when running plans like save as you earn (SAYE), where employee enrolment and ongoing engagement enhances the effectiveness of the plan significantly.

5. Provide expert support and strategic guidance

Technology is essential, but people matter too. Your provider should be a partner, not just a vendor. You want a team that understands regulatory nuances, market practices, and your specific goals. Whether it’s supporting international expansion or preparing for an IPO, their expertise should give you confidence at every step. There are many ways in which share plan providers can offer guidance and support, but for us at Ledgy, it manifests itself in an outstanding customer support team but also through feedback and opportunities to influence the prioritisation of key features and tools. Ultimately, support should be there when it is needed and our team’s familiarity with your processes and goals is vital to ensuring that the Ledgy experience remains consistent and effective. 

Transitioning to a new share plan provider

The idea of transitioning to a new share plan provider seems daunting at first, especially when you have a large group of employees with multiple plan types, in varied jurisdictions, all with specific performance and vesting conditions. However, it doesn’t have to be. Our expert Ledgy customer support team is on hand to guide you and take care of the heavy lifting when transitioning from another provider, or dare I say it, from complex spreadsheets. Our robust onboarding process at Ledgy has simplified what initially seems to be an impossible task to a seamless and timely one. Switching to Ledgy is easier than you think. You can book a no-obligation chat with one of our team to find out more here.

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