Equity plan design: defining employee eligibility, allocation, and structure

Equity is one of the most powerful levers in your compensation toolkit – giving employees a genuine stake in what they're building supports both hiring and long-term motivation and retention goals.

But equity plans are also one of the hardest to design.

Unlike salaries, there's no straightforward benchmark for a well-designed, competitive employee equity plan. Different companies have very different approaches, and grant value varies enormously depending on instrument, valuation, and strike price. Plus, there are lots of opinions to contend with from leadership, finance, legal, and investor stakeholders. And if employees don't understand what they have, the motivational value is lost entirely.

In this session, we're bringing together data from Ravio's 2026 Compensation Trends report and Ledgy's State of Equity 2026 report to see how companies are approaching equity design in 2026 – and sharing experiences on what separates plans that work from those that don't.

We'll cover:

• How equity participation is shifting across Europe – and what that means for your eligibility decisions
• How companies are approaching allocation: by seniority, function, and geography
• The equity plan design decisions that matter most – eligibility, allocation, instrument choice, vesting design, new hire grants vs. refreshers – and how to approach them

As always, there'll be plenty of opportunity to ask questions, share experiences, and learn from peers on how best to approach equity design.