How do I know if my worker equity system is working and a good return on investment?

One way to know whether your worker equity system is effective is to conduct a survey where you ask questions about whether your workers understand their equity and whether they see it as valuable. A key question would be to ask whether their equity plan is part of the reason why they want to stay with the company.

Another important indicator is when you see that your workers are not just agreeing with everything you're saying, but will be able to disagree and say, “Hey, I think there might be a better solution here. Let's talk about these other solutions.” If that’s happening, your equity system is working because people are becoming emotionally invested in the company and want to see it achieve success. This is because they know that their equity plan will only become worth something if the company succeeds and, therefore, they want to think more creatively about the solutions and not just agree with their boss or co-workers.

So it becomes a good return on investment when you see that your people are working harder and staying longer, working at night or even on the weekends. A good worker equity system encourages workers to spend time and help companies solve challenging problems that need innovative thinking and creative output.