Pension
Pension

Pension

Your strategic partner for pensions

Download e-paper: Visionary Pension

What is a pension?

For an employee, the pension is deferred pay. During the active employment, part of the pay is withheld until the retirement date and paid into a pension savings account with a pension insurer or pension fund. After the active employment, this pension savings account is converted into a periodic lifelong income for the (now ex-) employee. A pension is therefore one of the most important terms of employment in addition to income, holidays, study and career opportunities.

A pension is also an important term of employment for an employer. With a broad pension scheme, an employer may profile himself on the labour market. For example, a pension scheme may help the company in recruiting employees. A good pension scheme can also bind employees so that they are less likely to look for another employer. The concept of good employment practices plays an important role in this, as how do you see your social role? Are you setting up a maximum scheme? What do you arrange for the surviving relatives? What and when do you communicate with your employees? As an employer, you will ultimately look for a good balance between rewarding employees and keeping staff costs manageable.

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Compiling the pension scheme

We advise employers to compile the pension scheme from a vision. Do you compile the pension plan on the basis of the care concept or do you look at the entire package of terms of employment? Or is the cost aspect decisive for you? This makes quite a difference with regard to  the final pension scheme. And what do your employees expect from the pension scheme?

Pension advice

As your strategic partner for HR, pension and absenteeism, we are happy to help you draw up your vision and compile a pension scheme that is suitable for you and your company as part of your overall package of terms of employment. But we would also be happy to help you, for example, in harmonising the terms of employment at the time of a merger or acquisition.

In addition, we offer support in various actuarial calculations and you may contact us for a BPF investigation. A BPF investigation is important if the activities within your organisation change. You might then have to transfer your pension scheme to a pension fund. You can also contact us for guidance on individual and collective value transfer.

Pension agreement

Recently, the government and the social partners have made agreements in a historic pension agreement about a new (more) transparent pension system. As your strategic HR partner, we will show you, based on the calculation of one or more scenarios, what the possible consequences for you as an employer are and what the possible impact on individual employees may be. We involve the works council or the employee representation at an early stage so that the final changes are widely supported.

Pension communication

Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult for employees to have and maintain a good overview of their pension. Although the employee receives the Pension 1-2-3 and the Uniform Pension Overview, this does not always provide the desired insight. Many employees now have several pension schemes, sometimes with retirement ages 65, 67 and 68 and an AOW (General Old Age Pensions Act) pension that starts at 67 years and 6 months, for example. We therefore anticipate that the need for pension communication will only increase. The VLC Employee Portal supports communication. On their phone, tablet or simply on the PC, your employees have 24/7 insight into their personal situation.

Frequently asked questions

What is a pension?

A pension replaces the salary if it ceases to exist as a result of reaching retirement age, incapacity for work or death. It is therefore one of the most important (secondary) terms of employment. Both a pension fund and a pension insurer can implement a pension scheme. You can read more on our website.

Is an employer obliged to offer a pension scheme?

In the Netherlands, there is no compulsory pension. However, if your company is subject to a collective labour agreement that includes a pension scheme, you are obliged to participate in such pension scheme. If there is no obligation under a collective labour agreement and an employer voluntarily decides to set up a pension scheme, all kinds of rules that the employer must comply with apply to protect the rights of employees.

When is there a question of good pension scheme?

There is no description of what a good or a less good pension scheme is. However, when establishing various calculation rules in the past, it was always used as a starting point that an employee may build up a maximum of 70% of his last earned salary, including AOW (General Old Age Pensions Act). In this way, you might argue that a good pension amounts to 70% of the last salary earned.

When is consent required?

A works council has consent to anything that may have consequences for the granting, entitlement and accrual of the pension. If there is no works council, all employees must give their individual consent. Consent is not required if a trade union has been involved in the negotiations regarding the collective labour agreement.

Step-by-step plan Pension Advice

1

Taking stock

First of all, we will take stock of your initial wishes, objectives, knowledge & experience, risk appetite and financial position in relation to the pension scheme. At this stage, it is important to determine your vision on the pension.

2

Analysing

We then analyse the data, files and financial surveys received and calculate one or more scenarios in order to test future affordability.

3

Advising

In this phase, we combine the inventoried principles and analyses carried out and convert them into a personal advice; an appropriate pension scheme with an appropriate pension provider.
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Attention for your personal situation

Your personal consultant is ready for you

Jeroen Hertog

Jeroen Hertog

Directie & Management