Best Communications:
Communication is key to the successful operation of any employee share plan, and operating plans internationally provides additional challenges. Judges look for the most effective and appropriate means of communication materials used to help achieve the plan's objectives.

Best Use of Technology:
Websites, intranets, and other electronic means of communicating to employees have become invaluable and cost effective tools of international equity compensation. This award is granted to companies with innovative, appropriate, easy to use, and eye-catching electronic communications.

Most Innovative and Creative Design:
Stock plans can be created to meet a multitude of corporate objectives and ultimately must balance those objectives with the legal, regulatory, and corporate culture obstacles that may be encountered. This category will allow applicants to demonstrate how inventive and creative they were in working around potential stumbling blocks in developing and implementing stock ownership plans. Measurements in this category will include how well the plan was adapted to local tax and regulatory laws, innovative ways to increase employee participation and excitement, and how their plan differs from competitors or industry norms.

Best Plan Effectiveness:
Stock plans are key to helping a company achieve its corporate mission and goals. This category will highlight companies that have spent time and energy developing a stock plan that works towards those various corporate objectives. The criteria for this category will be assessing employee participation, and other ways of involving employees in the operation of the company. An essential component of assessing effectiveness is a clear statement of the goals of the plan in addition to a demonstrated measurement technique.

Best in Financial Education:
There is an increasing awareness among companies that their responsibility to employees extends beyond the implementation of a share plan. The provision of adequate Financial Education to employees is being seen as one of the key features of Global Stock & Share plans.

The GEO Award for Financial Education, is granted to a company who has implemented a Financial Education program which recognizes the importance of the provision of independent and objective advice to employees. The successful company will judged on the following criteria:

• Communicating the risks and rewards of the share plan in the overall context of financial planning
• Company endorsement of the responsibility to take appropriate financial advice
• The innovative use of methods of communication to ensure maximum take up
• Broad coverage of all aspects of Financial Education
• Assisting employees in the awareness of diversifying risk
• Providing employees access to independent & accredited specialists
• Innovative methods of communicating Financial Education to employee understanding ie video/web/CD
• Ease of access to information post seminar - use of intranet / call centres
• Employee feedback & evaluation of results

Applicant Divisions:
Recognising that companies are of different sizes and various stages of development we have introduced separate divisions for each of the awards.