Enterprise annuity, which is in the position of the second pillar in the construction of the three pillars of China's pension, has been introduced since 2004 and its coverage rate still needs to be improved compared with the first pillar.
Recently, data released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security show that as of the third quarter of 2023, the number of enterprises established by the national enterprise annuity fund has reached 138,709, the number of employees involved has exceeded 31.02 million, the cumulative fund size has reached 3115.9 billion yuan, and the net investment assets are 3,090.231 billion yuan.
At present, the number of people covered by enterprise annuity and occupational annuity has exceeded 70 million, and there is still a big gap compared with a pillar. Dong Keyong, secretary general of the Pension Finance 50 Forum and professor of the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China, said at the seminar "Practicing Corporate Employer Responsibility and Enhancing Corporate core competitiveness" recently that in the context of an aging population, only relying on pay-as-you-go or full accumulation can not achieve the full coverage, adequacy and sustainable system goals that the pension system hopes to achieve.
At the same time, in the context of the social average wage replacement rate of basic pension insurance declining year by year, it is urgent to improve the retirement income replacement rate through enterprise annuity. According to WTW research, the replacement rate of basic pension insurance varies from 20% to 55% according to income level. Corporate annuities can provide employees with a 10% to 20% increase in the replacement rate. According to the World Bank, to maintain the standard of living before retirement, the pension replacement rate needs to be no less than 70%.
Why are corporate annuities slow to develop? Some senior industry insiders told the interface news that the distance between the builders of the pension system and the actual participants is far away in concept, and the atmosphere of social anxiety has also had a negative impact on pension savings.
"There is a sense of anxiety among young people about the future, and they are thinking more about the current employment and income than the future. In addition, in terms of pension security, the system that our country has built for a long time also leads people to think that pension is the government's business. The participation rate of young people in the second pillar is not high because there are not many companies offering corporate annuity on a voluntary basis.
The establishment of enterprise annuity is not easy, not only needs the understanding and cooperation of employees, but also needs a perfect investment system to bring real pension value to employees.
In 2006, Lenovo Group established an enterprise annuity plan in China and obtained the record and approval of the former Ministry of Labor and Social Security. Ping An Pension Insurance is the trustee of Lenovo Group's enterprise annuity plan.
Gao LAN, senior vice president of human resources and chief human resources officer of Lenovo Group, admitted at the seminar that since the establishment of the annuity plan in 2006, the enterprise annuity has been full of challenges in the process of landing. Faced with the pressure of high costs, enterprises continue to communicate with employees, reduce the entry threshold, accelerate the ownership of rights and interests, and encourage more employees to join.
In order to better serve employees and realize the investment choice of enterprise annuity employees, Gan Weimin, chairman of Ping An Pension Insurance, introduced Ping An's approach. He said that Ping An Pension Insurance set up investment portfolios with different risk characteristics to meet the diversified needs of employees on the basis of full investigation of Lenovo Group's personnel structure; At the same time, we will establish a differentiated performance comparison benchmark for different types of investment portfolios and a long-term investment assessment mechanism to ensure the long-term stability of the planned investment operation."
From the social macro level, the above-mentioned industry insiders said that to let more people participate in the construction of a multi-level pension system, it also needs correct public opinion guidance to reduce excessive anxiety. More importantly, the reform and development of the pension system requires the participation of individuals, enterprises and the state.
Dong Keyong believes that the establishment of an enterprise annuity plan and the in-depth participation in the construction of China's multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system is an important embodiment of the enterprise's active practice of social responsibility, and helps the enterprise to carry out human resource management more efficiently. Through the establishment of enterprise annuity plan, on the one hand, enterprises can enjoy preferential tax policies and enrich the employee welfare system at a relatively lower cost. On the other hand, it can effectively benefit the employees, help the employees of the enterprise to cope with the fluctuation risk of the basic endowment insurance replacement rate, and enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of retired employees' life.
Gan Weimin said that at present, the development of enterprise annuity is facing major opportunities, and the 14th Five-Year Plan has clearly proposed to "improve the coverage rate of enterprise annuity". At the same time, the state continues to promote the national pooling of basic pension insurance for employees, which will create a broader space for the future development of enterprise annuity.
