Brash Solutions

EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP, INCENTIVE & PERFORMANCE SPECIALISTS

“ I help businesses share ownership and profits with their employees.
Why?  To attract, motivate & retain them,
because inspired, talented employees drive business success. ”

– Nick Brash LLB B.Com PhD (Law), Principal, Brash Solutions
Brash Solutions is a specialty consultancy in Australia offering all the services needed to set up an Employee Share Plan uniquely suited to each business.

An Employee Share Plan enables employees to:

  • acquire an ownership interest in, or
  • share in the profits or gains made by,

the business they work for.

Employees have more motivation to ensure business success from the additional financial incentive and from feeling like an owner. An owner has an extra reason to find a way to succeed.

Many companies view Employee Share Plans as out-of-reach due to costs or complexity.  Especially unlisted companies which need to grapple with valuing their business and financing share buy-backs when employees leave.

We specialise in Employee Share Plans for small and medium-size enterprises (‘SMEs’) and have found solutions for issues that otherwise can make setting up an Employee Share Plan seem difficult.

We have top-tier law and accounting firm experience without big-firm overheads making costs affordable for SMEs.  We have worked with large multi-national clients like Holden, Esso, Mobil, Alcoa, Siemens, CSL and Pfizer.  Our niche is the SME sector.

Our priority is to make an Employee Share Plan tailored, affordable, simple and above all, effective in meeting your goals.

Like a no-obligation chat?

LET’S TALK

ESOPs

FORGING BUSINESS SUCCESS

What is an ESOP?

An employee share ownership plan (‘ESOP’) is a system enabling employees to acquire an ownership interest in the business they work for.
An ESOP is one type of Employee Share Plan. We focus here on ESOPs as most of our work involves sharing ownership with employees. Brash Solutions also provides profit/gain-sharing plans and other services.

Why have an ESOP?

SUPPOSE…
BUSINESSES

Improve Performance

You want to improve your business’s performance and you’ve read the research showing businesses with ESOPs outperform non-ESOP businesses.

Read more

Research finds businesses (especially SMEs) with an ESOP “demonstrate superior performance in employee retention, labour productivity, sales and value added growth compared with their non-ESOP counterparts”.

The performance and characteristics of Australian firms with Employee Share Schemes | Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, April 2018

Attract Talent

You’ve decided to bring best market practices to your Company’s workplace, to make it competitive, give it an edge and attract the best talent.  You sense sharing ownership with key employees may be a key ingredient.  Your Company may be entering a growth phase or recovering from a difficult period.  Either way, you need the best people.

Retain Talent

You’ve noticed a greater mobility in the workplace – maybe one of your key people has been ‘poached’ or you yourself may have head-hunted a key player. And you’re wondering:  how can we hold on to key talent?  Funds may be limited compared with the ‘blue sky’ afforded to employees by share ownership. You’ve noticed ESOPs are becoming more the norm. You don’t want your Company to fall behind.

Motivate Employees

You’ve got good people and you want to create a culture in which they are motivated to go the extra mile.  An owner has an extra reason to find a way to succeed.

Reward Rerformance

You want a system that delivers high rewards to those who really deserve it, that creates a fair environment in which success is rewarded.

Create Succession

You may have spent years building your business.  You can’t do this forever and it may not be long before change is needed.  Maybe your business is not at a stage where it can easily be sold.  No-one understands, loves and values your business and its future potential more than your key employees.

ADVISERS

Service Clients

You’re a professional – an accountant, lawyer or financial planner perhaps – with clients wanting an ESOP.  You want to service the clients rather than pass them off but you don’t have the specialty resources to help them properly.

Find Solutions

You’re working on an ESOP for your client and you’ve hit a snag, a perplexing issue that you haven’t previously encountered. You’d rather ask an expert than spend valuable time researching the issue.

Our Process

HOW IT WORKS

How do you set up an ESOP?

Setting up an ESOP is a straightforward process for someone expert in the field – it involves:

Step 1 - Planning

A discussion with you at no cost about your objectives to quickly determine if we’re the best fit and we can provide you with value, and to map out a pathway forward.

Step 2 - Plan Design

Consulting to identify your objectives in detail and formulate a Plan Design proposal for your approval. This stage involves a relatively minor investment to ‘cut through’ the technicality and alternatives and create a way forward that is uniquely suitable for your situation.

Step 3 - Implementation

On approval of the Plan Design, a Plan Implementation proposal would be submitted to take the concept through to implementation including all relevant legal documentation provided by the allied registered law firm, Brash Solicitors.

What Can Go Wrong?

RISK FALLS INTO 2 CATEGORIES

Plan Implementation:

Cost:  You could be up for big fees if you can only find an expert in a large law or accounting firm, or if you need to use multiple advisers like a lawyer and an accountant.
Complexity:  With so many legalities and tax issues, an ESOP can end up so complex that sometimes not even those creating the ESOP may fully understand how it works, let alone the participants.
Compliance:  You want a tax-effective arrangement, but not a tax audit or penalties for non-compliance.

Plan Design:

Ownership by former employees:  A private company won’t want ex-employees to continue as owners, nor an extra fight on termination of employment. So an ESOP should be designed so the company can control what happens to the shares on leaving.
Liquidity:  Creating a market for a private company’s shares gives employees the ability to realise their reward, but ideally shouldn’t break the company’s bank.
Risk vs Reward:  In some cases, it’s important for employees to have ‘skin in the game’, to bear losses as well as gains; in other cases, employees need protection especially for events outside their control.
Tailored solutions:  Those not expert in the field tend to use templates, a ‘cookie cutter’ approach, whereas specialist ESOP consultants can be more flexible and come up with customised solutions.
Lateral thinking:  Accountants and lawyers are often great with technical skills but aren’t always known for ‘thinking outside the box’, to help you convert your employees’ needs into action.
WANT TO TALK NOW?

What People Are Saying About Us

“An expert in this specialised line of work, a lawyer who speaks in plain English.”

KYLIE OSGOOD, DIRECTOR, TRIBECCA INVESTMENT PARTNERS

“Nick was amazing throughout this whole project. He kept it simple and helped us focus on the end goal while making sure all legal requirements were met so we don’t have issues later down the path. A pleasurable experience for such a challenging topic.”

TOM HUNTER, BESTOH PRODUCTIONS

“Since you came, employee morale has improved and our key people
are ‘switched on’ and functioning really well.
Whatever you did worked, and like I said to you, it was the best money I’ve ever spent!”

BOB FURPHY, CEO, PICKERING JOINERY PTY LTD
TRUSTED BY BUSINESS

WHY US?

EXPERIENCED, AFFORDABLE & PRAGMATIC
100+ ESOPS
30 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE
AFFORDABLE
Brash Solutions is a dedicated ESOP consultancy.

As a ‘one-stop ESOP shop’ specialist, we’ve had 30 years’ experience including with big firms, but operate without big firm overheads. We offer:

  • depth of service, tailored solutions, and
  • breadth of service, covering all aspects of setting up an ESOP.

Read more

  • Specialising in ESOPs for small and medium-size enterprises
  • Open-minded consulting with back-end technical skills
  • Puts human and commercial issues first
  • Keeps things simple
  • Flexible to come up with customised solutions
  • Offers other advisers specialty expertise to assist their clients under their banner or directly
  • 30 years’ experience, including with top-tier legal and accounting firms
  • No big firm overheads, affordable
  • 100+ ESOPs, many still current
  • Breadth of expertise, legal and accounting / business skills
Nick is happy to have a no-obligation discussion with you about your objectives.

This will quickly determine if we’re the best fit, if we can provide you with value, and a pathway forward.

LET’S TALK

Services

A HOLISTIC APPROACH…
Our services involve:

Sharing Ownership

We help businesses set up ESOPs.
We can also assist with:
  • implementing the ESOP
  • finding the simplest solution to administer it
  • educating employees about it, and
  • communicating it to shareholders.

Sharing Rewards

We also help businesses set up:
  • profit-sharing schemes
  • other gain-sharing schemes, and
  • performance pay.

Sharing Goals

We can also help businesses create a culture in which employees feel personally motivated towards the business’s goals.  Not just for their pay cheque, and not just because of financial incentives like owning shares or sharing in profits. Where employees feel a personal vested interest in the business: they love their work, their workplace and contributing to its success.

Read more

This can be achieved through:

  • discovering employees’ goals
  • coaching them towards their goals
  • identifying misalignment with business goals
  • identifying changes to increase alignment
  • mediating conflict
  • sharing information
  • promoting job satisfaction
  • building team spirit, and
  • providing for long-term succession.

International research has long shown that ESOPs have their biggest impact improving business performance when they form part of a broader mix of financial and non-financial ‘participative management’ initiatives:

https://employeeownership.com.au/eoa/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ESOPs-20years-of-research..pdf

https://employeeownership.com.au/a-visual-guide-to-employee-ownership/


Let’s Work Together

WE’D LOVE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Nick is happy to have a no-obligation discussion with you about your objectives. This will quickly determine if we’re the best fit, if we can provide you with value
and a pathway forward.

We put the human and commercial issues ahead of technical legal issues.
We use ‘front end’ consulting and business skills to keep things simple
and tailored to your company’s needs.
And we use ‘back end’ legal skills only when needed
to ‘dot the i’s and cross the t’s’ in plain English.

Nick is a specialist legal consultant,
a lawyer who:

  • has specialised in employee share ownership plans for 30 years
  • including time working for one of Australia’s largest law firms creating and building their ESOP practice
  • has designed and documented ESOPs for such household names as Holden, Esso, Mobil, Alcoa, Siemens, CSL and Pfizer as well as a host of small and medium-sized enterprises
  • completed his Ph.D. (Law) on ESOPs and is also qualified in commerce and accounting, and
  • has a pragmatic understanding of business, as shown in his book How Companies Work.
Like to register your interest?
For a no-obligation call, fill out the form below.