Employee Savings Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Disclosure Employee Savings Plans [Abstract]

Employee Savings Plans

Employee Savings Plans

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Polaris sponsors a qualified non-leveraged ESOP under which a maximum of 7,200,000 shares of common stock can be awarded. The shares are allocated to eligible participants’ accounts based on total cash compensation earned during the calendar year. An employee’s ESOP account vests equally after two and three years of service and requires no cash payments from the recipient. Participants may instruct Polaris to pay respective

dividends directly to the participant in cash or reinvest the dividends into the participants’ ESOP accounts. Employees who meet eligibility requirements can participate in the ESOP. Total expense related to the ESOP was $10,335,000, $10,037,000 and $8,241,000, in 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. As of December 31, 2019 there were 3,282,000 shares held in the plan.

Defined contribution plans. Polaris sponsors a 401(k) defined contribution retirement plan covering substantially all U.S. employees. The Company matches 100 percent of employee contributions up to a maximum of five percent of eligible compensation. All contributions vest immediately. The cost of the defined contribution retirement plan was $26,185,000, $24,458,000, and $22,101,000, in 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (SERP). Polaris sponsors a SERP that provides executive officers of the Company an alternative to defer portions of their salary, cash incentive compensation, and Polaris matching contributions. The deferrals and contributions are held in a rabbi trust and are in funds to match the liabilities of the plan. The assets are recorded as trading assets. The assets of the rabbi trust are included in other long-term assets on the consolidated balance sheets and the SERP liability is included in other long-term liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. The asset and liability balances are both $48,874,000 and $48,545,000 at December 31, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

Executive officers of the Company have the opportunity to defer certain restricted stock units. After a holding period, the executive officer has the option to diversify the vested award into other funds available under the SERP. The deferrals are held in a rabbi trust and are invested in funds to match the liabilities of the SERP. The awards are redeemable in Polaris stock or in cash based upon the occurrence of events not solely within the control of Polaris; therefore, awards probable of vesting, for which the executive has not yet made an election to defer, or awards that have been deferred but have not yet vested and are probable of vesting or have been diversified into other funds, are reported as deferred compensation in the temporary equity section of the consolidated balance sheets. The awards recorded in temporary equity are recognized at fair value as though the reporting date is also the redemption date, with any difference from stock-based compensation recorded in retained earnings. At December 31, 2019, 133,706 shares are recorded at a fair value of $13,598,000 in temporary equity, which includes $11,834,000 of compensation cost and $1,764,000 of cumulative fair value adjustment recorded through retained earnings.