The ISS team and company as a whole were at a pivotal moment in their growth, and they wanted to make sure their team could continue to drive it. They wanted to attract and keep high-caliber talent who could continue to drive this growth as quickly as possible. In addition to that, they wanted to award equity to their key employees but did not want responsibility for buying out stock if an employee leaves the company.
"We were looking for the top 10 percenters in our industry. We’re not looking for average. We want a small team that makes a huge impact," said Jacob from ISS.
To do this, they wanted to have an incentive structure that not only rewarded employees in the short term but also provided long-term motivation.
10 percenters want skin in the game. We needed a way to motivate our team to think differently, grind it out, and work hard because there’s something for them in the end.
ISS sought a solution that was both efficient and cost-effective. After evaluating multiple platforms, they chose Reins for its ready-to-go structure and adaptability to their business needs.
“Reins had a solution that was a true “needle in a haystack” and perfectly fit our needs. We looked at other options and all of them cost 10X more than Reins and were overly complicated,” said Brent from ISS.
Reins stood out to ISS because of its ability to tailor solutions to their needs. "We’ve challenged Reins to give us more than what was there when we first started looking. It began as a simple program, but we needed a way to set targets, monitor those, and centralize every employee’s wealth-building mechanism in one platform," Jacob explained.
Reins responded by partnering with ISS to continue to evolve the platform. "The fact that we got to sit down, whiteboard ideas, and you came back with Kanban boards and tangible improvements—it was surprising. You don’t get that level of service from other business applications."
Another key differentiator was the level of customer support. "A lot of platforms are just software subscriptions. With Reins, I can pick up the phone, send a note, and get a quick response. That’s hyper important for us. It’s not just about the software; it’s about the partnership."
ISS was able to initiate the cultural shift they wanted within their company by implementing short and long term incentives through the Reins platform.
This is the first time our employees have had this type of commitment from the company. Their reaction? Excitement. They could see their shares, their contributions, and what this could mean for them.
Reins also delivered on much-needed transparency and credibility. "Before, our team had no structured insight into what this all actually meant. Now, it’s a topic in our monthly and quarterly business reviews. It’s written, structured, and visible. That kind of transparency is huge."
In terms of execution, the speed at which Reins delivered was a standout moment. "I’d been talking about this for a long time, and then, boom! A week later, we had a program in place," said Jacob from ISS.
