Results from the 2024 Acquirers’ Incentive Plan Survey
With global mergers and acquisitions on the rise, organizations are increasingly using special incentives to acknowledge the key employees who are getting the job done, according to WTW’s 2024 Acquirers’ Incentive Plan Survey.
Additional workload was the top reason global respondents cited (82%) for giving special awards to employees involved in acquisition/merger/divestiture deals.
However, many of these respondents said that these incentives are largely ad hoc and have no standardized approach to rewarding employees.
Global respondents said that special compensation typically isn’t provided to top executives. Instead, most of the investment goes to those below the C-suite level.
Among employees who receive these special awards, target award-value ranges vary substantially by level.
Employees in shared services functions were most likely to be included in the special compensation plan.
More than half of organizations waited to communicate the special awards until after the deal closed.
Spot bonuses are the most common program used to recognize employees.
In retrospect, survey respondents said they would have approached various aspects of special compensation differently.
Acknowledging the efforts of key employees involved in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures should be approached strategically to deliver the highest return on investment possible. Ensure your organization has a clear understanding of the best special compensation awards for any deal it approaches.
