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Participation Plan questionnaire

The most chosen answers are already filled in for you.

It is important for us to have a clear picture of the (legal) structure of your company. Based on this, we help determine whether changes need to be made in this area. Is there currently a general partnership (VOF), a sole proprietorship, a single BV or is there a holding structure?
This question aims to provide insight into the distribution of shares within the structure of the organization outlined above. Which owners own what percentage of the shares?
To be able to use our platform, it is important to draw up a recent valuation of your company. If that valuation has already taken place, you can enter the value and reference date here. If there is no rating yet, enter “N/A.” in.
How will the participants finance their participation?
In the participation plan, you as a company, indicate how one can pay for their participation. Often companies let this be ran by their HR structure (salary structure), but more companies choose the route that employees and others pay in cash. We advise to give an employee as many options as possible (so all 4) in order to have as high of a participation percentage as possible. If you only want to choose 1, then go for "by their own means".

Please take into account that shares are seen as payment (same as cash). This means that: if an employee did not pay for a share and you as a company transfer a share to an employee, this is seen as a payment of salary. You (as an employer) will have to withhold salary tax in such an occasion
Is there a maximum percentage one participant can hold? If yes, how many?
It's partly a matter of personal preference, but it's also important to note that a participant who has a 5% or more interest in a company pays a higher tax rate than someone who is under a 5% interest. An interest of 5% or more is called a Substantial Interest
Information, meetings and voting rights...

Information, meetings and voting rights are not obligatory, you should see it more as a good way to keep your participants in the loop and to make them feel included. Do please understand it is statistically proven that the more rights an employee/participant receives, the higher their engagement in the company. (Only 12% of employees are fully engaged in their work/company, according to Gallup research 2021)

Will there be a depositary receipt holders' meeting?
Meeting rights mean that the depository receipts holders (certificate holders) are entitled to come together at meetings mandatorily organized by the statutory board. It also means that they are allowed to voice their opinion. It does not perse mean they are allowed to vote (this is decided at the next sub question).
Will the participants have voting rights?
Voting rights means the right to vote in a depository receipts holders (certificate holders) meeting. The option is there to make the outcome of the voting in these meetings binding for the statutory board. This truly gives the employees a say in some of the important matters that have to be decided upon by shareholders.
Will the participants receive information rights?
Information rights are an obligatory way for the employee/participant to stay fully informed on the company. We all understand that an employee regardless of these rights will know a lot about the company's performance and strategy. This ruling will only make it legally binding for the company to share important information with the participants
Can everyone trade?
Take in consideration that if a participant has 5% ownership or more it is seen as a substantial interest. However, you have the possibility to set a maximum percent of ownership on our platform.
Do you want to work with vesting?
If shares are vested, the employee is rewarded with shares but will receive the full rights to the shares over a set period of time and/or after a certain milestone is hit. A standard vesting stipulation usually looks as follows: the vesting period is four years. After one year the employee will earn 25% of the shares, then the percentage will increase per month to a total of 100% of the shares after four years. 
When a participant is made redundant or goes bankrupt, for instance, you can oblige them to sell their Depositary Receipts. To whom do they have to sell?
Are there consequences for bad leavers?
A bad leaver is someone who is fired on the spot for lawful reasons.
Do you want to implement a drag along?
A "drag along" looks like this: if a majority Shareholder offers their Shares to a third party, they can oblige minority shareholders to offer their Shares to this same party. In the transfer between the third party and the minority Shareholder the same conditions apply as between the majority Shareholder and the third party
Do you want to implement a tag along?
A "tag along" looks like this: if a majority Shareholder transfers their Shares to a third party, minority Shareholders have the right to transfer their Shares to this party as well, under the same conditions as apply between the majority Shareholder and the third party.
How will the value of the depositary receipts be determined?
When making a choice it is important to take into account how many people will participate and what the value of a share is. For instance, if a share is valued at €100 and you want to keep the threshold for people to participate low, you could choose to give out 100 depositary receipts per share. Then a depositary receipt will be valued at €1. This does mean that the distribution that comes in on that share will be divided over 100 depositary receipts.
How often will the value of the depositary receipts be disclosed to participants?
The value of the depositary receipts can be changed on our platform. This is a great way to show participants how their hard work impacts the value of the company.
In what language(s) would you prefer your documents?