Giving Your Employees Skin In The Game

I was working with a business owner on ideas for retaining a key employee. The employee was threatening to leave for a higher paying job, declaring “I love working here, but if I’m going to stay, I want to have some skin in the game.” I started explaining to the owner why he should avoid offering the key employee stock as an incentive. He stopped me, and asked that I first give him an idea of some of his options. “I don’t even know where to start; what kinds of plans are there that can help an employee feel he or she has a financial stake in the company, and will be rewarded for contributing to our success?” Fair question. The challenge is too many options; not too few.