In our previous newsletter, we informed you of the status of the legislative process:
- The bill was submitted to the House of Representatives on March 30.
- It is up to the House of Representatives and then the Senate.
- Intended effective date of legislation: 01-01-2023
We recommended that you not only put the topic of “Pension Agreement, the impact on our pension building” on your agenda, but actually work on it. We also promised to update you on our findings so far.
Over the next few weeks, we are studying the bill and will update you on its contents in May.
Pension agreement pension plans: freedom of choice = choice stress
Regardless of all the technical issues in the bill, the topic of retirement communications occupies a prominent position. The employee’s own responsibility is significantly increased within the “Pension Accord pension plans.
It looks very much like many pension plans under the Pension Agreement will be nothing more than a second base, supplementing the first base, the state pension. It is up to the employee to take care of additional pension or otherwise provide additional retirement income from this basis.
The employee gets more and more freedom of choice, which is great, but this also means making financial choices. These choices go beyond the topic of retirement and touch the overall financial management.
Employer versus employee: how do we divide responsibility?
It is clear that a heavy burden is placed on employers’ duty of care regarding adequate pension communication. Soon even more than now. As an employer, you are faced with the important question: where does my duty to provide adequate pension communications end and where does my employees’ own responsibility begin? You will have your ideas about that, but so will your Works Council and employees. These parties may have different views on this.
Pension communication plan of action
In this newsletter, we list some points of interest to help you get started in preparing a thorough retirement communications plan of action.
Legislative framework
The legal enshrinement of the duty of care “adequate pension communication” is not found in the Pension Act, but is found in the Civil Code under the heading “good employment practices.
Objective
The goal of retirement communications is to provide the employee with the following:
- Overview: information in general terms
- Insight: more detailed information
- Action perspective: opportunity to make choices
Communication can be aimed at informing about an existing situation, but it can also focus on the situation where there is a change in the regulation. The distinction obviously determines your message and the method to be adhered to.
Methods and toolings
There are multiple methods of retirement communication and the toolings to be used in the process:
- Live plenary sessions (on the on-site soapbox or via MS Teams)
- Webinars
- Personal consultations (on-site or through MS Teams)
- Online through the retirement portal, whether or not supported by portal training sessions and/or your intranet
- Written, via general brochures and/or personal Pension Statements
The continued development of toolings is particularly impressive. Direct links to the Tax Office, NIBUD and the database mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl is now standard. Users are given the opportunity to set up their own Financial Planning within half an hour, based on which they can make choices in the retirement sphere.
Target groups
What method and means you use will be tailored to the audience you want to reach. Each target group has its own retirement communication needs and deserves its own method. We distinguish the following target groups:
- Employees Boarding to Company
- Existing employees
- Existing employees ‘at age’ with additional choices regarding variable retirement
- Existing employees with retirement dates approaching
Stakeholders
You are not alone. In addition to you as the employer, we distinguish the following stakeholders who shape the pension communication plan of approach with you:
- Your employees, whether represented by a Works Council or not.
Define your own vision and consult with the Works Council. Determine together the “must haves and nice to haves” and divide responsibilities.
- Pension administrator involved.
What toolings are available, how to deploy them now, and what developments are on the agenda?
- Consultant involved
By law, the role of the pension administrator is limited to informing. Advising an employee on making choices is beyond the scope of the pension administrator and is up to your advisor. Your advisor not only has relevant financial expertise and knowledge about your pension plan, but is also able to view the subject of pensions and the choices to be made as no more or less than a part of your employee’s overall financial management
Timing
Once you have determined your strategy for what you will undertake with your own retirement building under the Pension Accord, this is a logical starting point to get started on your retirement communications plan of action.
If you have any questions regarding this newsletter, please contact us at 033-7505000 or pensioenvragen@krollerboom.nl.
