The founder of the law firm Tapestry talks about angling
for the best talent, ditching 'cookie cutter' recruitment,
and the merit of employee share schemes
You have been working with employee share plans since the 1980s
– why is this such a passionate subject for you?
I started working on employee share plans when I was at
Linklaters. I had only been there a few weeks when a project came
in for Debenhams to set up an employee share plan for them.
I had been a shop girl through most of my teen years as a
Saturday job, so I understood why Debenhams wanted to do this; to
engage with its staff and give them the opportunity to share in the
success of the business.
Throughout the 1980s, lots of companies were coming to
Linklaters for executive share plans, but then having come across
the Debenhams' share plan, I talked about what they could do
for their workers as well. Most companies went away with both an
executive share option plan and an employee plan.
