“We want to show that company pension schemes are a strategic building block for loyalty and employer attractiveness, especially in personnel-intensive industries,” says Dominik Roth, Group Human Resources Manager at AWO Lower Franconia. The company pension scheme model was developed together with the service union ver.di. It is integrated into Metzler Pension Management as part of a social partner model (SPM). SIGNAL IDUNA is responsible for inventory management.
With the company pension plan, AWO Unterfranken wants to give its employees a signal of appreciation and long-term responsibility. “Especially in the skilled worker market, a noticeable employer benefit has a positive differentiating effect – both in terms of recruiting and retaining employees,” emphasizes Roth. “For us, the company pension scheme is not just a pension instrument, but a strategic component of our employer value proposition.”
The new company pension concept will be implemented as part of a pure defined contribution plan (rBZ) and will be administered close to the capital market via the Metzler social partner pension fund. The core of the rBZ is an employer-financed basic contribution of 2.8 percent of the relevant salary, with the employer’s effective contribution including employer-financed security and cost shares totaling around three percent. The basic amount is supplemented by the option of optional deferred compensation – for example 1.4 percent or 2.8 percent. Metzler Pension Management pursues a uniform investment strategy as part of active asset management, which is docked to Uniper’s SPM. Additional security mechanisms are provided through collectively financed security contributions and risk buffers. This typically results in pension benefits in old age.
A feature of the AWO pension is the combination of a mandatory collective agreement, a noticeable employer contribution and modern governance in the social partner model – with the aim of making the company pension scheme low in liability and widely accessible. The feedback on the model is very positive. In particular, the employer-financed component and the simple, collectively regulated system are well received by employees. This is proven by the participation rate: In addition to a 100 percent participation in the mandatory part of the AWO pension, the participation rate in voluntary salary conversion is 25 percent. In the future, AWO Unterfranken wants to adjust three additional adjustments to the company pension scheme: Firstly, the model should be explained more comprehensibly; secondly, a target group-specific approach should better activate deferred compensation; thirdly, processes need to be optimized.
