BVG / occupational benefits
Occupational pensions for your staff — comparison, affiliation and ongoing support.
Why this matters
For most employees, the pension fund is the largest savings pot of their lives – and yet in many companies the affiliation has been running unexamined for years. Two businesses with identical salaries can, with different collective foundations, have generated noticeably different retirement savings for their people after twenty years: low interest, high administrative costs and expensive risk premiums add up quietly. If you never compare, you often pay too much while offering your team too little. In the worst case, the company is stuck in an affiliation with a low funding ratio – and with it a restructuring risk.
Practically every company with staff is affected: anyone employing people above the statutory entry threshold must insure them under the BVG in the occupational pension scheme – that is mandatory. By law, the employer bears at least half of the contributions; many companies voluntarily pay more. A closer look is particularly worthwhile for businesses competing for skilled staff and for companies with management-level salaries: in the extra-mandatory portion there is plenty of room for design that standard plans rarely exploit.
What you get out of it
Good pension provision makes you an attractive employer.
Risk and savings contributions compared with the market — savings potential often lies untapped.
Your pension affiliation matches the age structure of your team.
What we take care of for you
- Tendering and comparing collective foundations and full-insurance solutions
- Analysis of funding ratio, interest credited and administration costs
- Support when changing pension provider, including the transition
- Annual reporting and ongoing management of changes
The advice is free for you — we are remunerated by the insurance companies through brokerage commissions and will disclose these on request.
Tips from our consultations
What we tell our clients time and again – free of charge, even before the first meeting.
The pension fund market moves, and your affiliation should too. If you put the contract out to tender every three to five years, you often find better terms on risk premiums and administrative costs – or receive an improved offer from your existing provider.
The funding ratio, the interest credited on retirement savings and the level of the conversion rate in the extra-mandatory portion are also decisive. A cheap affiliation with weak interest costs your employees more over the years than the company saves in premiums.
Affiliation contracts can usually be terminated only at the end of the year, and the notice periods often run to several months. If you start comparing in autumn, you are too late for the coming year-end. Begin the review in spring – that leaves time for proper quotes.
Higher savings contributions, a better-insured salary or optional plans for management often cost less than a pay rise but have a more lasting effect. Especially when recruiting experienced professionals, the pension fund is increasingly becoming an argument – mention it actively in job interviews.