Looking for your input / Know what's going on
We regularly tune in to hear what our members have to say. This is important: Philips Pensioenfonds is weighing one interest against another all the time, and making choices that impact our members’ pensions. It is therefore our responsibility, we feel, to obtain your input on matters that affect your pension and the pension fund. We do this not only by informing you, but also by asking for your opinion and seeking out a dialogue with you.
Read on to find out the results of a survey that we carried out last autumn, and to learn more about the issues on which we want your input in the new year. I would also like to ask you to help us again, and answer six quick questions.
Autumn 2019 survey
How happy are you with Philips Pensioenfonds? Are you happy with the pension information that we send you? Do you trust us? Would you prefer to handle your pension by yourself? These are some of the questions from a survey that Philips Pensioenfonds conducted near the end of last year among a large group of active and retired members. Members of other pension funds in the Netherlands were asked the same questions. The survey showed that active and retired members both are happy with our standard of service and with the information that we provide, including compared with other pension funds. For example, 73% of our active members would pick Philips Pensioenfonds if they had to choose for themselves. That is an important indication that you are happy with us, and trust us. Among our retired members, 86% replied that, given the choice, they were fairly certain that they would pick Philips Pensioenfonds.
While the satisfaction and trust ratings help us decide on our course in general terms, the survey also yielded concrete results that we can apply directly to our pension plans. For example: do you know when you need to undertake action for your pension? According to the findings, 32% of our active members do not think they need to do anything if they start living together with their partner, and 10% are not sure - and this is in fact one of those moments when action on your part is vital! We believe that this means we should repeat our information about the importance of registering your partner with us if you start living together without an official partnership. Another finding is that 2 out of 10 retired members do not know that their pension will be impacted by divorce. That is an issue that we have highlighted in recent years. Still, some solid improvement has been made here: in the previous survey, 3 out of 10 retired members had been unaware of how divorce would impact their pension.
The year ahead
I would like to discuss two topics that the Board of Trustees is working on just now, and with which we want to involve you by providing the right information or entering into a dialogue.
The first of those topics is the National Pension Agreement; you can find out more about it in this newsletter. The National Pension Agreement is an excellent example of a matter that we are monitoring closely, and in which we involve ourselves if necessary. We would like to talk you through it by explaining what our role is in the matter and, given that role, what our positions are.
We will also be informing you later this year about our ESG policy: how we incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance aspects into our investment policy. In popular terms, it means our policy for sustainable investment. The Board of Trustees recently expressed the intention to develop that policy further. We will expressly seek input from our members before we decide precisely what measures we will take. If we ask members for their views on this issue this year, can we count on you?
With kind regards,
Jasper Kemme
General Director