Looking to arrange a pension scheme for your employees?
A supplementary pension scheme is an important condition of employment. If you offer your employees a pension scheme, that makes you more attractive as an employer. However, not all employers do this - around 1 in 10 employees do not build up a pension through a scheme provided by their employer.
In order to make it easier for you to offer your employees a pension scheme, employer and employee organisations have drawn up a step-by-step plan. It contains all the steps that you need to take, together with an explanation of what each step entails. With this step-by-step plan, you can offer your employees a fitting pension scheme - even if you know (almost) nothing about pensions.
Why should you offer a pension scheme?
Most employers in the Netherlands offer their employees a pension scheme. A pension is not just an income for later on in life, but it can also provide an income in case of an employee’s incapacity to work, or an income for surviving dependants in the event of the death of an employee. As it happens, a pension scheme makes an employer more attractive to new employees and can bolster the loyalty of existing employees. What's more, a pension scheme offers employees tax benefits.
Please note: sometimes a compulsory pension scheme is in place
In some cases, you are obliged to offer your employees a pension scheme. It is important to check this first. This may be the case if your employees carry out work that falls under the compulsory scheme of a sector pension fund. It may also be the case that the company has to honour a Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) stipulating that employees must participate in a pension scheme. Perhaps you are not sure, for example, because it is not clear from the outset what sector your company is operating in. Then you should ask for information from the most applicable sector pension funds and sectoral organisations. You could also enlist the help of a pension consultant.
Electing to offer a pension scheme
Find out whether your company falls under the compulsory scheme of a sector pension fund or whether the collective labour agreement obliges you to offer your employees a pension scheme (see previous question). Is it clear that, as an employer, you are not under an obligation to offer your employees a pension scheme? Then it is up to you to decide whether, and in what way, you want to agree on a pension scheme with your employees. This step-by-step plan lists and explains the different steps you need to take. Furthermore, a pension consultant can help you set up a pension scheme that is a good fit for your company and meets the needs of your employees.
Leaving it up to employees to arrange their own pension scheme
In the Netherlands, it is common practice for employers to offer their employees a pension scheme. However, there are also companies where employers and employees have opted not to agree to a company pension scheme. In some cases, employees then receive an extra allowance that they can use to arrange their own pension scheme. As an employer, if you choose this option, you can help your employees by informing them about the options available to them to build up their own pension. It is important to make it very clear to your employees that you, as their employer, have not signed them up for a pension scheme.
