Compensation Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

The Company and its subsidiaries have profit sharing plans in which substantially all employees participate. The plans provide for minimum annual contributions of 5% of eligible compensation; contributions above the minimum are discretionary and vary with each participating subsidiary’s profitability. Employees become eligible to participate in the plan on the first day of the calendar quarter following the first full calendar quarter after the employee's date of hire provided the employee has completed 250 hours of service during the calendar quarter. The plans provide that 40% of the contributions vest immediately and that the remaining 60% vest at varying percentages based upon years of service. Profit sharing expense was $42 million, $39 million and $42 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The Company has a long-term incentive compensation plan ("LTIP") that provides for compensation to key executives based on the growth in the Company's book value per share over a five year period.

The following table summarizes the outstanding LTIP awards as of December 31, 2017:



	Units Outstanding	Maximum Value		Inception to date earned through December 31, 2017 on outstanding units
2013 grant	194,250	$	48,562,500	$	38,958,780
2014 grant	207,000	20,700,000		12,916,800
2015 grant	208,500	20,850,000		10,800,300
2016 grant	229,250	22,925,000		7,581,298
2017 grant	227,000	22,700,000		3,162,110

The following table summarizes the LTIP expense for each of the three years ended December 31, 2017:



(In thousands)	2017		2016			2015
2011 grant	$	—	$	(82	)	$	7,397
2013 grant	7,667		8,918			7,336
2014 grant	3,167		3,503			2,935
2015 grant	3,667		4,072			3,205
2016 grant	3,601		4,002			—
2017 grant	3,162		—			—
Total	$	21,264	$	20,413		$	20,873

- Definition

The entire disclosure for compensation costs, including compensated absences accruals, compensated absences liability, deferred compensation arrangements and income statement compensation items. Deferred compensation arrangements may include a description of an arrangement with an individual employee, which is generally an employment contract between the entity and a selected officer or key employee containing a promise by the employer to pay certain amounts at designated future dates, usually including a period after retirement, upon compliance with stipulated requirements. This type of arrangement is distinguished from broader based employee benefit plans as it is usually tailored to the employee. Disclosure also typically includes the amount of related compensation expense recognized during the reporting period, the number of shares (units) issued during the period under such arrangements, and the carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of the related liability.

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