Runbooks / ESPP Employer Operations Checklist
ESPP Employer Ops Runbook (Checklist)
Use this checklist to run employer-side ESPP operations with clear owners, controls, and evidence artifacts.
1) Eligibility & Enrollment
- • Publish eligibility rules (service criteria, geography, exclusions) with plan-owner approval.
- • Define enrollment windows, lock dates, and mid-period change policy.
- • Maintain an enrollment exception log with approver, reason, and effective date.
Artifacts
Eligibility rules docenrollment calendarexception log.
2) Payroll Deduction Setup
- • Configure deduction rates and contribution caps by plan rules.
- • Validate deductions against payroll cycles and participant election files.
- • Define stop/restart rules for leave, termination, and ineligibility status changes.
Artifacts
Payroll config specelection-to-deduction mappingstatus-change rules.
3) Purchase-Date Processing & Broker File
- • Lock participant roster and contribution totals before purchase-file cutoff.
- • Generate broker purchase file with participant, currency, and purchase-date fields.
- • Record purchase-date inputs (price, shares, FX if applicable) used in processing.
Artifacts
Purchase cutoff checklistbroker file schemapurchase run log.
4) Reconciliation & Exception Handling
- • Reconcile payroll deductions to purchased shares by participant and currency.
- • Process refunds/true-ups for terminated, ineligible, or over-cap participants.
- • Track breaks to closure with owner, root cause, and resolution date.
Artifacts
Reconciliation reportrefund/true-up registerexception tracker.
5) Tax/Reporting & Calendar
- • Maintain jurisdiction matrix for payroll/reporting obligations and filing owners.
- • Map purchase and disposition-related reporting responsibilities to filing calendar.
- • Run pre-filing QA checks on participant-level amounts and dates.
Artifacts
Jurisdiction matrixfiling calendarpre-filing QA checklist.
6) Data Retention & Audit Pack
- • Retain lot-level records: purchase date, price, share count, and participant ID.
- • Preserve election history, status changes, and reconciliation evidence.
- • Package period-end audit packet with approvals, files, and exception resolutions.
Artifacts
Data retention specevidence indexperiod-end audit packet.
7) Terminations / LOA / Ineligibility
- • Apply event decision tree for termination, leave of absence, and ineligibility.
- • Execute deduction stop/refund actions within defined SLA.
- • Confirm participant communications and system updates are synchronized.
Artifacts
Event decision treeSLA trackerevent completion log.
8) Participant Communications Templates
- • Maintain template set for enrollment, purchase-date confirmation, and exception notices.
- • Publish timeline view with key dates (enrollment close, purchase date, statement availability).
- • Define escalation path for payroll, broker, and equity admin support issues.
Artifacts
Communication templatestimeline calendarescalation matrix.