India Retirement Benefits

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2 Setting the context Objective of the India retirement benefits pulse survey To gain insights into what companies are doing to address statutory changes, increase employee awareness and improve governance in retirement benefits in India. Industry wise summary of companies surveyed Total participation 70* 2% 1 28% 11% 12% 19% 11% *60 companies responded to the profiling information BFSI Consumer Products / FMCG Hi tech / semiconductors / Telecommunications Pharma / Healthcare Utilities IT / ITes / BPO Engineering / Manufacturing Retail / Wholesale 76% participants have revenue of greater than INR 500 crores 60% have retirement fund size of more than INR 100 Crore 56% companies have a headcount of more than 2,500 in India 2

3 Key Highlights Communication Retirement Benefits Administration 51 % 29 % Employers yet to abide by new Gratuity and Superannuation guidelines Employers think their employees understand UAN completely Improved employer education will lead to better employee communication and experience 84 % 54 % Regulatory Complexity top concern Expect to devote more time to retirement benefits Need to keep pace with rapid regulatory changes and increasing complexities Trust Governance 30 % 17 % 12 % 10 % One in 3 employers feel roles and responsibilities of the trust are not well defined Employers are not sure if the benefit is paid to right person at right time in accordance with law and company policy Benefit administration and compliance at risk Employers rank employee experience/complaints and structural changes respectively as a driver for spending more time on retirement trust governance Potential focus areas for employers Risk area Potential focus area 3

4 Trust governance Time Management Does management of retirement benefit schemes take up more time presently than 2 years back? Going forward, do you expect to devote more time on this issue? 27% 15% Strongly Disagree Disagree 28% Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly Agree 25% 2 21% 5 Yes No Not sure Factors driving Trustee / Organisations to spend more time on retirement trust governance (in order of ranking) Employee experience/complaints and Structural changes should be potential focus areas given the dynamic economy Factors/Ranks Regulatory complexity 58% 10% 16% Investment complexity and volatility 10% 3 16% Emphasis on corporate governance 10% 32% Administrative complexity 12% 28% Legal risk 2% 6% 12% Documentation 6% 6% 12% Employee experience/complaints 2% 6% Structural changes in the organisation 6% 2% 2% 4

5 Trust governance - Trust administration 56% agree trust deeds have been reviewed for compliance this year 62% companies agree that vendor SLA was reviewed this year Documentation Are Trustees Organised? Only 71% trustee meetings happen with structured agenda 71% agree that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined Most Trustees update themselves via news, alerts, notifications or consultants Are trustees Proactive? Investment performance 61% confirm that framework to review investment performance exists 67% agree that trustees monitor investment performance regularly 71% participants say that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined as compared to 97% in This reflects increased awareness and the need to keep pace with rapid regulatory changes and increasing complexities 17% participants are not sure if the right benefits are paid at the right time and to the right person in accordance with law and company policy. High Compliance Risk! Are benefits always paid to the right person at the right time in accordance with law and company policy? 37% 8% 46% Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 5

6 Trust governance Roles and responsibilities Who in the organisation is accountable for the following activities? Rewards Compliance 11% 37% 9% 20% 13% 6% HR Third party vendor performance / MIS) 12% 29% 15% 38% HR Shared Services Finance Trust Secretarial activities 6% 15% 13% 38% 6% 15% Treasury Legal Custody of Documents (e.g. Trust deeds, approval letters, regulatory correspondence) 8% 32% 15% 25% 13% Other 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Don t Know It is reconfirmed, most organisations rest a large part of ownership of retiral benefits with HR (Rewards/HR/HRSS) Largely Trust Secretarial activities are owned by the finance teams this is in line with the last year s study 6

7 Regulatory changes Have you started the new Gratuity/Superannuation policy with the insurance company as yet? What has been done for new employees for EPS with basic salary > INR 15,000 37% 1 20% 29% For new entrants only For old and new employees Still evaluating Not sure what needs to be done 19% 8% 32% 30% 11% Will not participate Leave it optional to employee Not change anything going forward Not decided yet Don t know 51% Employers yet to abide by new Gratuity and Superannuation guidelines 32% will continue providing EPS benefit while 30% will not keep it open for new employees Most organisations either won t or haven t thought of revising the basic component structure given the change 29% Employers think their employees understand UAN completely PF Act Salary threshold increased from INR 6,500 to INR 15,000-56% of the companies have not been impacted by salary thresholds change Improved employer education will lead to better employee communication and experience 7

8 National Pension System (NPS) Have you implemented NPS? 16% Eight companies said that only employees contribute to NPS, while the employer only facilitates administration 33% Implemented already 51% Considering Not Considering Interestingly, 3 companies have reduced existing benefit (above PG Act Gratuity benefit and Superannuation benefit) to provide NPS One out of 3 companies have implemented NPS and majority of them have an up-take ratio of less than 25%. 8

9 Towers Watson s view Managing cost Cost incurred due to changes in statutory requirements are beyond the control of an employer. Given the evolving workforce landscape and demographics, employers should continue to expect statutory changes and be prepared to be on top of those. Understanding interlinks between statutory benefits and opportunities for supplemental benefits should be kept under frequent review. Managing growth It should be ensured that those involved in the trust management are clear on their roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. Regular trustee training can be a good way to remind the trustees of their roles and responsibilities, as well as provide a chance to update oneself on latest legislative developments. Managing risk Benefits are for employees and employee communication doesn t seem to be prioritised - This is self defeating, especially when employees rank benefits as one of the top retention driver. Making sure there is a governance framework fin place for trust activities (such as trustee meetings) will go a long way to mitigate risks. 9

10 Kindly direct your queries to: Kulin Patel Director Client Account Management Anuradha Sriram Director Benefits, India 10