Exact Sciences' creative approach to pensions
As part of the occupational pensions system in Switzerland, biotech research company Exact Science’s retirement scheme allows its employees in Switzerland to access accumulated pension funds for housing deposits.
Maral Soltani-Taylor, director of benefits & mobility, told the Key future changes to pensions that employers need to know about REBA webinar on 10 July 2024, “there are rules and restrictions in place, and it can only be used for a deposit”.
“But it gives employees that additional flexibility to use their accumulated funds and it helps the younger workforce get on the housing ladder,” she said.
The life sciences company provides a number of stock benefits. “As someone reaches certain criteria, which we define as ‘retirement eligible’, we offer accelerated vesting of some of their aquired restricted stock units,” she said.
Employees in certain countries can also purchase company stock at a discounted price. “What we’ve tried to do is really help employees spread the risk and spread their financial benefits across different options to not just rely solely on a DC pension plan,” Soltani-Taylor said.
Employee engagement with its retirement plan is very high and the DC scheme has generous employer contributions of up to 12%.
“But what we found is a lot of employees lack that minimum knowledge and understanding of what will happen when they get to retirement ages, especially not having any other funds than a defined contribution scheme,” Soltani-Taylor said.
The company offers annual financial education sessions from its broker, which are timed to fit with relevant government announcements. “We try to cover everything from state benefits to savings accounts to mortgage options.
“It’s about making sure that employees understand that these things [can] change as well. And if they do want to retire earlier, they need to find different ways to be able to fund the lifestyle they’re looking for at the time of retirement,” Soltani-Taylor added.
