CMS Expert Guide to Stock option grants in CEE

Global companies today are in constant competition not only for customers, but also for the best talent. Most companies across the world now offer their employees equity compensation plans as part of their employee benefits schemes, which have now become a new market standard in most industries. Many startups, private companies, and corporations also include them as part of the compensation plan for prospective employees.

When equity compensation plans are offered worldwide, it is often a challenge to find a proper balance between providing an equal level of benefits to all participants and ensuring compliance with local requirements in each jurisdiction. In our practice, we frequently help our clients to deal with questions of compliance in situations where incentives, such as stock options, are offered to team members in Central Eastern Europe.

We have prepared this guide to help companies understand the key aspects of launching employee incentives plans in CEE by bringing together and answering the most frequently asked questions from our clients. In this guide, we focus on the two schemes that we find to be the most common in practice: stock options and restricted units. We base our responses on the most common setup of these two types of equity schemes derived from our experts' experience and practice. We encourage you always to seek individual consultation and have your plan reviewed by a qualified expert in your jurisdiction in order to confirm the conclusions provided in this guide.