Retaining a Key Employee

• How much of a loss would your business suffer if a key employee left and joined a major competitor?

•  Do you have a strategy in place to retain a key employee?

Felix owns a highly successful business consulting company. Felix’s son, Leonard, has been working in the business for about to 8 years, and Felix plans on turning over the business to Leonard within the next 4 years. However, he’s worried that his top salesman, Oscar, may not like working for Leonard.

Felix decides to implement a “Golden Handcuff” executive bonus plan. The company agrees to fund a $750,000 personally owned Indexed Universal Life insurance policy on the life of Oscar. The plan requires the company to pay a premium of $13,000 per year, provided that Oscar meets certain performance targets. The agreement also includes a vesting schedule, which will restrict Oscar’s access to the policy cash value. Once Leonard takes over ownership of the company, Oscar will most likely be very motivated to stay with the company or else forfeit a significant portion of the cash values in the life insurance policy.

 *This blog is strictly the opinion of Michael A. Malleo and not those of