From complexity to clarity: How Rohlik scaled employee ownership with Eldison
1. About Rohlik: An European growth story
Rohlik is one of the Europe’s fastest-growing online grocery platforms. Founded in Czechia, the company now operates across several markets and continues to scale fast.
Employee ownership has always been a core part of Rohlik’s culture. As the company expanded across countries and hundreds of employees became eligible for equity, it needed a clearer, more structured way to manage ESOP at scale.
For Tomáš Krčil, Group Legal Director, the answer was a single digital system that could support Rohlik’s growth, cross-team collaboration, audits, and long-term IPO plans.
“As Rohlik grows, we need complete, accurate, auditable ESOP data, always. Eldison helps us maintain exactly that.” – Tomáš Krčil, Group Legal Director
2. Why Rohlik chose to digitize ESOP
With 262 participants eligible for ownership across 5 countries, Rohlik wanted a modern ESOP management setup that would:
- centralize all documents and records
- create a consistent experience for employees
- streamline annual vesting communication
- automate standard workflows
- support Finance with audit-ready reporting
- give Legal, HR and Finance one shared source of truth
Rohlik partnered with Eldison because of its end-to-end model: legal expertise, a digital platform for daily ESOP operations, and a partnership mindset that supports the company as it grows.
“Eldison wasn’t just a vendor. They worked like part of our team - cleaning data, designing structure, and making it all make sense.” – Tomáš Krčil, Group Legal Director
3. How Rohlik uses the Eldison platform today
Rohlik now runs its entire ESOP ecosystem in Eldison. Everything lives in one platform, connected directly to BambooHR, and shared across teams.
3.1 Standardized, fixed vesting
All awards follow a five-year fixed vesting schedule. Unlike typical rolling vesting (where each employee has their own timeline), fixed vesting keeps everyone aligned on the same long-term horizon.
Every year, Rohlik sends annual vesting confirmations - a large communication action covering hundreds of employees. Eldison supports this end-to-end so it runs smoothly every time.
3.2 Daily ESOP operations
Rohlik uses Eldison to handle all ESOP lifecycle events:
- issuing and approving new awards
- processing terminations
- sending annual vesting letters
- updating participant and award data
Legal, HR, and Finance work from the same data set with full traceability.
3.3 Automation through BambooHR
Eldison’s integration with BambooHR drives most of Rohlik’s ESOP workflows:
- Participant sync keeps employee records current
- Award automation calculates grant sizes and vesting schedules using Rohlik’s internal compensation “levels”
- Termination automation generates documentation the moment HR updates BambooHR
In standard cases, no one needs to click anything. The flow is fully automatic.
Legal can still review exceptions when needed.
Up to 95% of new awards follow this automated path.
3.4 Clear roles across teams
- HR manages day-to-day employee data
- Legal oversees governance and exceptions
- Finance runs reporting, allocations, and audit prep
Everyone operates from the same platform and the same information.
3.5 Reporting and audit support
Eldison helps Rohlik stay audit-ready with:
- clear data on allocated, vested, and outstanding options
- IFRS-ready reports
- structured participant and departure tracking
- clean exports for internal and external auditors
Everything is transparent and easy to present to stakeholders.
4. The impact: a modern, scalable ESOP system
After 16 months with Eldison, Rohlik has a digital, automated ESOP setup that supports its European footprint and future growth.
Key outcomes
- 254 participants managed across markets
- All ESOP plans unified in one digital platform
- 1 000+ documents structured and centralized
- Most standard workflows automated through BambooHR
- HR, Legal, and Finance fully aligned
- Audit-ready reporting at any moment
- Weeks of admin reduced to days, with full transparency and audit-readiness
“Now every grant, vesting event, and termination is clear. It’s structured, transparent, and easy to work with.” – Tomáš Krčil, Group Legal Director
5. Key takeaways for founders
- Don’t run ESOP in spreadsheets at scale. With cross-country teams and tens of participants, you need one system where Legal, HR, and Finance work together.
- Leadership matters. Rohlik’s Group Legal Director led the ESOP transformation around a single goal: clarity and control. You need an internal champion like that to succeed.
- Use the HR data you already have. When ESOP sits on top of your HR system, most workflows like awards, updates, or terminations can run automatically with almost no extra admin.
- Centralization is key for cross-team work. Legal, HR, and Finance all need ESOP data. One shared system removes confusion and helps everyone work faster.
- Choose partners, not just tools. Rohlik benefited from a mix of legal know-how, smart technology, and close collaboration. ESOP works best when you’re not solving it alone.