Orchestra’s Director of Sales shares #1 secret to ESOP roll-out success

If you’re a New Zealand or Australian company considering bringing your employee share scheme out of spreadsheets and into the cloud (or implementing a new ESOP), you’ve likely met with Keegan Vivian-Greer. 

As Orchestra’s Director of Sales and Sharesies’ Business Growth & Development Lead, Keegan has helped hundreds of companies on both sides of the ditch streamline their ESOP management systems, but he’s also seen first-hand what hurdles can hamper an effective share scheme roll-out and ongoing administration.

In this article, Keegan shares the secrets to employee share scheme success, red flags to be aware of, and what he’s been up to since moving to Australia earlier in 2024.

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Tell us about your role at Orchestra and recent move to Australia

My primary focus is supporting businesses that have challenges or want to improve their equity management and relationships with stakeholders. Many of these companies also want to streamline and automate manual tasks that come with ESOP and equity management, freeing up their team to focus on more time-critical areas of the business. On a typical day, I’m meeting business leaders for coffee, discussing their business challenges and current processes. After learning a bit more about them, I touch on potential improvements that could be made, and whether Orchestra/Sharesies can support them in that journey.

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I chat with many companies who already have a scheme in place, but perhaps it hasn't been given the love and attention needed. Many companies think their share scheme is too complicated to streamline and find automated solutions. But what’s exciting for me is helping the company find a solution that works, and provides employee shareholders with a full view of their ownership in the business.

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It’s been great moving to Sydney, Australia, earlier this year and continuing to expand the reach of our solutions. Orchestra is part of the Sharesies family so I work most days out of the Sharesies Sydney office, and from the moment I stepped off the airplane, work has just been crazy. The Sydney ecosystem has been very welcoming, and I couldn't have predicted we would get this much momentum quickly.

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What should every company know about employee share schemes?

It's easier to implement an employee share scheme than you think. It might seem like a big mountain to climb, but like everything, it starts with the first step, and if you've got the right advisors and experts in your corner, it is a lot simpler than you might think. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

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There’s also no typical type of company that suits an employer share scheme. There are a whole bunch of weird and wonderful things you can do with employee share schemes, which means that they can be built for really early-stage startups right up to multinational corporates. It's just about understanding the different levers within the scheme structure that you can pull to ensure it will work for your company and employees unique circumstances

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Employee share schemes are a great way for smaller companies to gain a competitive edge and help attract the best talent and take on the bigger players - particularly in a tight labour market. There’s no such thing as a company that is too small or too big to implement an ESOP. It's about getting under the hood and deciding what will work best for your company’s unique circumstances.

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What’s the #1 secret to a successful ESOP roll-out?

The common denominator across the companies that have successfully rolled out an employee share scheme is that they have a strategy to communicate and inform their employees. They inform their employees why they are implementing a share scheme, and how Orchestra fits in, clearly outlining the impact or benefit for the employee shareholders and how it works. 

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If, for example, you’re a designer, developer or someone who's not intrinsically financially literate, from the outside, participating in a share scheme could seem pretty complicated or daunting. Companies have a responsibility to their team to communicate it well so everyone is on the same page, and doesn’t just understand the benefit but appreciates it as well.

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Are there any ESOP pitfalls companies should be aware of?

From the outset, it's important to have a good ESOP framework in place, that you can scale as more employee shareholders come on board. When you're starting, there might be a handful of shareholders, and it's very easy to do things ad hoc. But think ahead five or 10 years to when the business is humming, and you've got a bunch more employees. What processes and workflows need to be in place for you to manage the scheme effectively? And how can you ensure that it's fair across the entire team? This might include allocation amounts, timelines for securing the shares and what happens if employees leave. The last thing you want is a slew of different share scheme rules for different people.

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What do you enjoy about Sydney life outside of the exciting work opportunities?

I’ve been enjoying exploring new parts of Sydney on dog walks, time at my local Coogee beach and checking out all of the epic hiking spots around New South Wales, particularly in the Blue Mountains.

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Get in touch with Keegan to discuss how to make your employee share scheme the best it can be keegan@orchestra.io