Some of these companies seek to replicate the success of their U.S. based plans in motivating employees to think and act like owners and to provide a common incentive and equitable treatment to their U.S. and non-U.S. employees. Other companies seek to use stock ownership to help establish a common international identity for the corporation among its wide-spread workforce and to keep more of its stock in friendly hands. Another motivation is simply to provide international employees with U.S. denominated securities which can often be an attractive benefit for employees, especially in developing economies. International equity plans can take several forms. One common approach is to issue stock options.
Some companies make a one-time grant of a set number of options to each employee.
Others provide employees with options equal in value to a given percentage of pay each year or provide option awards for selected employees based on individual merits. Often the companies provide international staff with a 24-hour loan facility whereby they can direct a designated stock broker in the U.S. to give them a loan sufficient to exercise their options. The broker then immediately sells enough shares to pay off the loan and transaction fees and deposits the remaining shares in the employee's account. Each of the company's international subsidiaries are given an account within the trust and each participating employee has an individual account with the appropriate subsidiary. The subsidiary corporations then either purchase shares of the parent corporation based on profitability or receive grants of stock from the parent and those shares are allocated to the accounts of the participating employees.