‘I would advise everyone to start a new pension scheme now’

Many organisations seem to prefer to postpone the introduction of a new pension scheme under the Future of Pensions Act (Dutch Wtp) for a little while. But you can’t start early enough, they have noticed at Interfood, a dairy trader. The company proved itself to be a frontrunner last year, and has by no means regretted this so far. ‘Enthusiasm for this theme has clearly increased.’

Pension is not usually a topic that people are likely to get excited about. But it is actually possible, they have noticed at Interfood dairy trader. When the previous pension scheme expired, the company decided to anticipate the new Pensions Act, which will become compulsory for everyone on 1 January 2028, anyway. But the company didn’t do this under the radar; it tried to make something fun out of it. For example, with posters featuring geraniums, but also by distributing fake geraniums in various departments, to kick off a discussion about pensions. They also organised a number of town hall sessions to create even more awareness about pensions.

‘Fit’ and ‘lef’

‘It all worked out really well in the end’, Daniëlle van der Plas says looking back. As HR Manager, she has been with the 360-strong company for about 2.5 years now. As part of her job, she is closely involved in the introduction of the new scheme, which is now fully future proof, as they like to call it here. Interfood has opted for a fixed pension contribution based on 12% of the pension base (9% paid by the employer and 3% by the employee). There is also a flexible part, in which the employer pays another 12% of the pension base. The fixed part, which is based on the idea that everyone deserves a good basic pension, was called ‘fit’, which is short for ‘finance in time’. The flexible part was called ‘lef’, which stands for ‘life events flex’. With these names, Interfood wants to show that employees can make their own suitable, personal choices in respect of various life events.

Fairly young population

‘We have a fairly young population’, Van der Plas explains. ‘The average age is 36. You can see that the life events of younger employees differ considerably from those of older colleagues. The flexible part of our scheme enables them to respond to this. As a dairy trader, we also employ a higher number of commercial people. We can see that this flexible part of the scheme appeals to them in particular.’

Although there is something that she has to get off her chest. Not so much about her organisation, but about the regulations themselves. ‘Many people choose to have the variable budget paid out straight away. Because if you put the money in the pension fund and you pass away, it won’t go to the surviving dependants under the new Pensions Act. They’re not happy about that. If the regulations had been different, I am convinced that a higher percentage of people would have chosen to make more supplementary contributions than they do now.’

Frontrunner

When the change process started in January 2023, there were still some doubts about whether simply extending the old scheme by another year would not be better, Van der Plas says. But thankfully, a different choice was made then, she says. This is confirmed by Anton Bonte, who, as an advisor on behalf of Aon, is involved in the management and communication in respect of the pensions at Interfood. ‘I think Interfood has taken the right direction with this decision,’ he says. ‘They are really a frontrunner in this area, and have cleverly used the moment of expiry of the previous pension scheme. They also had the advantage of coming from an average pay scheme. Then it makes sense to switch to a fixed defined contribution scheme, because the average pay scheme can no longer be insured under the new Pensions Act.  As this is a complex change, communication to employees with an explanation of the changes is important.’

No more postponing

The Aon advisor calls Interfood an example for other organisations. He actually advises every employer not to postpone the topic any longer. ‘You’re going to have to transition anyway. So use any time that lends itself to this,’ he says. ‘In the near future, postponement – if it really is necessary – will only create a backlog with advisors and pension administrators alike. And then you may get into trouble.’

In addition, if you tackle things the way Interfood did, you can also increase the enthusiasm for the subject within the organisation, he sees. Van der Plas agrees. ‘We don’t have a works council, which is why we started with an 8-member Pension Committee to see what the options were. After a number of meetings, you saw at some point that everyone was getting excited, new law or not. They were mostly excited about for the combination of the fixed and flexible part. I think that was a really big trigger.’

Communication

Interfood has approximately 360 employees, approximately 220 of whom are working in the Netherlands. The working language here is mainly English; the employees come from all over the world. ‘It may not be a very large organisation, but it is a diverse and complex one,’ Van der Plas says. As a dairy trader, Interfood does not have any factories, warehouse or production sites. Yet communication about pension often remained a challenge, she says. Hence, for example, the various townhall sessions. ‘There have been many information sessions, in Dutch as well as in English. Also to explain in the first place what the pensions system in the Netherlands looks like.’

And that communication doesn’t stop, she says. For example, employees are now offered a personal consultation with an Aon employee every year. On average, around 50 people use this opportunity. ‘These are not just pension discussions, but often also more general financial consultations,’ Bonte explains.

Low-threshold and enthusiastic

Following a call for tenders, the administration of the pension scheme was placed in the hands of BeFrank. ‘They emerged from the tender as the most innovative, low-threshold and enthusiastic party. Moreover, they work with a very intuitive portal, do not make it more difficult than it already is, and as far as we are concerned, they look at the subject in a really different way. Not old-fashioned, but more from the angle: what can you do with it? What choices do you have yourself? And they also make that beautifully visible to everyone.’

In short, as HR manager, Van der Plas is quite content with Interfood’s timely transition to the new pensions system. ‘In any case, it has made a calm and thorough preparation possible. We were able to take our time now and take the employees with us every step of the way.’

This article appeared on MTsprout.nl on 11 February