Financial wellness benefits provider expands platform to provide holistic view of employee total rewards
With a flurry of skyrocketing valuations, huge IPOs and SPACs in recent months, equity compensation can make up the majority of an employee’s total compensation. However, if employees don’t understand how equity works, they are leaving a significant amount of value on the table. Origin, the employee financial wellness platform, today launched Equity Manager, a new suite of tools designed to empower employees to make the most informed and confident decisions possible around their equity compensation so that they can maximize their worth with the help of financial professionals.
The extensive in-app tool features a simulation tool that enables users to see current and simulated future value of their equity, understand costs to exercise options and sell shares with differing inputs, as well as a knowledge base that helps employees understand the mechanics of how equity works. These tools are the latest milestone in Origin’s vision to make financial wellness accessible to everyone at any stage of their lives.
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“From ISO to NSO, RSU to ESPP, employee equity is one of the most complex aspects of employer compensation and very few people understand it, let alone feel prepared to make informed decisions about it,” said Matt Watson, CEO and co-founder, Origin. “In fact, half of all Origin users reach out to their financial planner for advice on equity compensation and management. The Origin Equity Manager delivers the education and guidance employees desperately need to understand the current value of their equity grants and simulate growth scenarios to maximize their worth.”
The Origin Equity Manager aggregates employee equity holdings across all current and previous companies, enabling them to visualize and receive guidance on their equity portfolio in the context of their entire financial picture, including:
- Equity basics: robust in-app education materials on private and public equity and how it works, including vesting, options vs. shares, dilution and more
- Equity value overview: a single-pane view of the current value of their vested/unvested company equity grants
- Growth simulation: an interactive tool to project the value of equity holdings based on different growth scenarios
- Exercise and sale simulator: an easy-to-use simulation tool to understand total cost of exercising options; which ones to exercise and in which order; share sale around gross proceeds, taxes owed today and at end of year, and net proceeds
- Candidate equity overview: a visual overview of an employment offer and equity details, including current value of equity and the ability to project future value to understand the value and growth potential of an offer
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“Historically, our employees would come to the People and Benefits team with a range of questions regarding their stock compensation and equity options,” said Steve Aguilar, Total Rewards and HR Operations at Blend. “By partnering with Origin, our employees are adopting the program quickly, and we’ve received positive feedback on our total benefits package. Employee well-being is one of our top values at Blend, and our employees can now navigate their finances and work lives with the insights provided by Origin.”
The Equity Manager is paired with Origin’s network of CFP and CPA professionals that are accessible directly through the Origin platform, either through live video meetings or in-app messaging, so employees can get any remaining questions answered to feel confident in their financial decisions.
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