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.
