Over ten years, the number of corporate pension programs in Russia has decreased

As follows from the data of a survey of employers by the Technologies of Trust company, since 2014 the number of companies that provide their employees with corporate pension programs has decreased in the Russian Federation. Almost half of the surveyed enterprises do not plan to introduce them in the near future either. However, according to experts, employers’ interest in this element of the social package may still grow due to competition for employees in the labor market.

Since 2014, the number of companies that have corporate pension programs (CPPs) has decreased in the Russian Federation, according to the 2023 Corporate Pension Survey conducted by the consulting company Trust Technologies (formerly PwC). More than 100 Russian companies from various industries took part in it. Recall, according to the National Association of Non-State Pension Funds (NAPF), about 6 million people in the Russian Federation form a non-state pension, most of them are participants in corporate pension programs (3.8 million people) at the stage of generating payments (form 2.4 million people receive 1.4 million).

Almost a decade ago, the share of companies with corporate pensions was 39% – now it has dropped to 33%. At the same time, the share of those who plan to introduce checkpoints has slightly increased (from 9% to 12%). For the majority of surveyed enterprises, however, this issue is irrelevant (52% do not plan to launch such programs). As a result, the bulk of corporate pension programs in the Russian Federation have been maintained for far from the first year – according to the respondents, the majority of companies that implemented the CPT did so more than 15 years ago (38%) or in the range from 10 to 15 years inclusive (28%). According to the head of the NAPF, Sergei Belyakov, in recent years, they could be abandoned primarily by small enterprises in the regions due to the growing financial burden and other costs. “This is evidenced by the reduction in the number of small regional NPFs,” he notes.

In most companies, employees who have worked there for three to five years (62%) can participate in corporate pension programs. At the same time, in 73% of companies, all categories of employees, except for foreigners, can participate in the checkpoint. The average age of participants in such programs falls within the range of 40-45 years (36% of companies), as well as 35-40 and 45-50 (18% in both cases) with an average work experience in the company of more than five years. The majority of respondents named one NPF as the administrator of the program (77%), another 10% work with insurance companies, and 8% manage programs on their own. At the same time, 91% of companies that attract external providers are satisfied with their work.

Respondents note the retention and motivation of employees (21%), maintaining the image of a socially significant company (21%), as well as ensuring conditions for painless retirement of older employees (18%) among the key goals of implementing the PPC. At the same time, companies are increasingly considering PPC as an image move (including within the framework of ESG strategies) – 21% of all respondents indicated maintaining the image of a socially significant company as the reason for implementing programs. According to the study, 33% of companies that have implemented CPT have seniority payments, 13% have special conditions for working pensioners, and 10% retain VHI for retired employees.

In the future, taking into account the state of the labor market, the introduction of PPC may again become popular – as Karina Khudenko, tax partner of Technologies of Trust, notes, the increase in programs in the early 2000s was due to high competition for employees. Kommersant has already written about the return to a scarce labor market in the Russian Federation (see, for example, Kommersant of August 3). “The trend will be set by large Russian companies. If they have the opportunity to increase salaries and bonuses and at the same time supplement the corporate package with a pension program, achieving their goals for social responsibility and financial well-being of employees, then pension programs will continue to develop,” she says.

Anastasia Manuylova