Roles of Employees and Employers in Enhancing the growth of Retirement Benefit Schemes in Kenya
Employment serves as the bedrock of the retirement savings landscape, providing the primary means through which individuals accumulate the necessary funds for their post-working years. Employers have a significant impact on employees' capacity to achieve a secure retirement. Their role encompasses the offering of retirement benefits, creating a welcoming environment for workers of all ages, fostering work-life balance, and adapting business practices to support transitions to retirement. Employers also provide valuable non-retirement benefits that can help their employees protect their health, income, and savings. As such, we shall discuss and give recommendations to both employers and employees on how to improve their retirement prospects and increase the likelihood of sufficient income during retirement years by investing in the appropriate scheme;
Recommendations for Employer:
- Offer a Retirement Plan or join an Umbrella Retirement Plan – Firms can offer retirement plans to their employees to encourage them to save for their retirement. However, if the employer has no occupational retirement scheme for the employees or does not have the capacity to start one, they can join an Umbrella Pension Schemes which reduces the average cost per member and provides an avenue to save for retirement,
- Increase efforts to reduce the number of withdrawals in the retirement plan- Employers should create awareness among employees about the ramifications of undertaking premature withdrawals from retirement accounts. Employees should understand and come up with ways of dealing with non-routine and emergency expenses, which will offer employees alternative ways as opposed to withdrawing the retirement benefits,
- Help pre-retirees plan their transition into retirement – Employers can help pre-retirees by educating them about retirement income strategies to efficiently manage savings and retirement plan distribution options,
- Allow part-time employees to join retirement schemes – Firms should encourage part-time employees to join retirement schemes by extending retirement plan eligibility to such groups, and the necessity of back-up plan if forced into early retirement,
- Expected returns – Employers should select providers whose return rate is high enough to ensure a sizeable growth for the retirement savings. The appropriate rate of return should always be higher than the inflation rate to ensure a positive real return by not losing value over time,
- Extra benefits – Employers should recommend to workers schemes that will offer extra benefits in terms of insurance covers and health care benefits. Such complimentary benefits would improve the quality of a retirement plan.
Recommendations for Employees:
- Creating a budget – Employees should have a budget to guide on how to spend on expenses and remain with income to save for retirement in a suitable scheme,
- Have a back-up plan – Employees should have backup plans in case of job loss or early retirement arising from accidents or ill-health,
- Affordability and flexibility – As an employee, it is essential to select a retirement plan that will not strain you in terms of contributions. Additionally, you should look into the flexibility of the plan in terms of changing the contribution amount and measures, if any, should you miss a contribution,
- Understand the various options available – It is prudent to understand how your money will be treated, its accessibility, and the mode of payment at the time of retirement to ensure that its features align with your objectives. Schemes have different provisions on whether you can use your savings to secure mortgage facilities or even buy a residential house, and,
- Select a manager you trust – Retirement benefits plan is a long-term affair and the only way to feel secure about your contributions is by selecting a manager you trust. Key to note, a trustworthy manager should have good governance structures and management experience.
