Asking Employer to contribute to a pension

MangoJoe

Registered User
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129
Hi All,

A quick question - I'm due to negotiate employment terms with an existing Employer.

At time of commencement of current employment some years ago an employer contributory pension was not on the table.

Now I am interested in a modest pay increase or asking for a pension contribution - or both....

Is there any guiding factor or benchmark one could use from which to begin such a negotiation? For example I seem to have a memory of annual salary increase being in the region of 2.5% of gross annually (this might be outdated or incorrect?)

Also what's an average Employer contribution to a pension, what should I be aiming to get? Is 5% of gross reasonable/average here? Am I correct in saying public service is 6.5% of gross salary?

As I understand it pension contributions for employees are quite tax efficient for an Employer anyhow so I don't want to undersell myself.

Hopefully the above is enough information to go on - I'd really appreciate any thoughts you might have etc.
 
All you can do is ask Joe.

Your salary at the time of joining your employer should of been reflected in the fact that there was no er contributions. Employers are under no obligation to make contributions yet. The structure is due to change when the auto enrolments system is introduced.

I have heard of employers matching contributions from 2%-15%. I don't think that they need to pay employer's PRSI on this figure so a small saving for them there, I am not 100% sure on this.

I think a good starting point in this process for you it to see how much you are worth. e.g. how much you could get if you left your existing company for a similar role somewhere else. Then you can work backwards from there and ask for a combination of a salary increase & pension contribution to bring you up to that figure.
 
The personal contribution for the public service pension is 6.5%. The supplementary contribution that was introduced during the recession was made permanent this year.

If you are looking to get you employer to contribute, 5% should be the minimum. Anything below that will not be much help to you (I know it would be better than nothing but anything less than 5% will make very little difference to you).


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
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