Beyond Stock Options

From Chapter 2, "Phantom Stock and Stock Appreciation Rights"

If the employer's principal objective is to motivate the participants in the program to grow the value of the business, a SAR grant is typically more appropriate. The holder of a SAR award receives no benefit unless the underlying stock value appreciates. As a result, the holder has an incentive to improve financial performance with the expectation of growing the stock value. SAR grants are frequently made subject to a vesting schedule to encourage retention, as well as to provide an incentive to grow value. However, the vesting element of a SAR grant is successful as a retention tool only to the extent that the value of the underlying stock continues to appreciate. If the underlying stock declines in value from the date of grant so that the SARs have no value, the employee might be more willing to entertain an offer to go elsewhere because he or she forfeits no value upon departure. For example, assume an employer makes annual SAR grants with a graded five-year vesting schedule for each grant. Assume further that the underlying stock value appreciates each year during the first four years from $10 to $15, $20, $25, and then $30. If, at the end of five years, the underlying stock is valued at $40 per share, the employee would have a significant unvested build-up of the early awards. In this case, the annual SAR grants, with their five-year graded vesting schedules, become a valuable retention device. If, however, the underlying stock is more volatile and the value at the end of five years, based on the prior example, drops to $20, the retention value is more limited.

Phantom stock awards are more valuable if the objective is to promote employee retention. Phantom stock awards are typically subject to a vesting schedule for several reasons, not the least of which is to encourage retention. The vesting schedule may be designed with specific objectives in mind. If the employer's sole objective is retention, the forfeiture provisions may be based solely on the passage of time (e.g., a five-year cliff vesting schedule, meaning the award does not vest at all until the end of the fifth year, at which time it becomes 100% vested). In this case, for example, if 500 units of phantom stock are granted when the underlying stock is worth $100 per share, the initial value of the award is $50,000. Even if the value of the stock drops in half to $25 per share, the employee would forfeit significant value if he or she left the company during the five-year period before the units become fully vested. Forfeiture provisions may also be designed to assure that the employee remains in the service of the company during a critical period. For example, the vesting provisions may be tied to the repayment of the company's outstanding senior loan. In addition, if the objective is a combination of retention and performance, the vesting provisions could be tied to the achievement of certain financial targets (e.g., EBITDA targets). For example, some plans use relatively long vesting schedules (e.g., six to seven years) for grants, but provide that vesting will accelerate if certain performance measures are satisfied.