Pension for employers
As an employer, you’re legally required to contribute to pension savings for your employees, but it’s also a good employee benefit. We’ve put together all the information you need right here.
Mandatory occupational pension
The mandatory occupational pension (scheme) Act says that the business must have a defined contribution pension for its employees.
Your business must have a pension if:
- You have at least two employees who have working hours and salaries that constitute a minimum of a 75 per cent position.
- You have one employee without an ownership interest in the business who has working hours and a salary that constitutes a minimum of a 75 per cent position.
- You have people who have working hours and salaries that constitute a minimum of a 20 per cent position, and who together are equal to at least two FTEs
- For self-employed people, different rules apply. Read more here
Statutory minimum requirements for pension savings:
- You must save at least 2 per cent of the employee’s salary between 1 and 12G. (G stands for the National Insurance basic amount.)
- The agreement must include a retirement pension and a waiver of contribution should they become incapacitated for work. The waiver of contribution ensures that the pension savings will continue even if the employee becomes incapacitated for work.
Automatic reporting via the ''a-melding''
The Storting has decreed that pension providers can use data from the a-melding to update information about employees in pension schemes.
DNB aims to get the first customers transferred to the a-melding during Q1 of 2022. Your company will receive written notice well before it is transferred to the a-melding.
Objective:
- simplify business’s day-to-day reporting tasks;
- ensure that employees get more accurate pension savings.
Before the transfer:
Firstly, it’s important that you check that your company has registered DNB as its pension provider in the company’s payroll system. This registration can be filed now. This gives us automatic access to collect all the data.
Organisation number for registration:
914 782 007 - DNB Livsforsikring
After the transfer:
Your business will still be responsible for keeping the pension agreement correctly updated. DNB may request necessary information or ask your business to confirm the information that DNB has updated.
We can collect the same information about your employees that your business currently gives us by running payroll files or doing manual updates.
- Employment date
- Termination date with reasons for termination
- Salary that is relevant for the pensionable income
- FTE fraction and/or hours
- Whether the employee is on leave or has been temporarily laid off
DNB will obtain information from the Norwegian Tax Administration/ NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) if an employee receives sick pay, work assessment allowance or disability pension from NAV. If the business is dispensing sick pay itself, we stick to what the business is reporting.
A new industry norm has been decided for which type of salary will be pensionable and which are optional for the business. You can find the new industry norm for the a-melding here:
Industry norm - calculating pensionable income (PDF, Norwegian)
In terms of optional income, the pensionable income will be calculated according to that which the business determines.
For employees with a permanent position, the FTE fraction specified in the a-melding will be used.
For employees on an hourly wage, the FTE fraction is calculated on the basis of the number of hours specified in the a-melding.
We recommend that the company update the agreement in the portal as soon as possible, so the employee’s information is up to date when entered into the a-melding. Changes in the portal can be made retroactively.
When transferring to the a-melding, there will be a limit to how much updating can be done retroactively.
An employee isn’t removed until we’re advised of this via the a-melding. The instructions for completing the a-melding describe which codes should be used as the final reason. It’s important that the company pay attention to this and use the right code.
Who is enrolled in the pension scheme?
The main rule is that all employees in the company must be enrolled in the pension scheme provided they are at least 20 years old and have a 20 per cent position or more.
All temporary employees who have a 20 per cent position or more must be enrolled into the pension scheme.
Seasonal workers can be enrolled into the scheme if they have a 20 per cent position over the course of one year.
The rules in the agreement can also be formulated to enrol seasonal workers in the pension scheme if the work performed for the business in each of the three preceding years amounts to at least 20 per cent of a full-time position.
Apprentices who have signed apprenticeship contracts with the business are covered by the pension scheme in the same way as other employees.
DNB explains reporting via the a-melding.
Good investment solutions are important for providing employees with a good pension
My Pension Profile has been developed by managers with sound expertise at one of Norway’s largest and oldest asset management firms. The pension profiles have a broad selection of investments to ensure a good return relative to risk.
The broad selection spreads the risk while the down-weighting in the profiles reduces the risk as you approach retirement age.
As the employer, you can choose between two types of management – active and index-based
Active management
In pension profiles with active management, the goal is to achieve an especially good return relative to risk. Here the pension capital is invested in seven different asset classes.
Index-based management
In pension profiles with index-based management, the goal is to achieve a good return relative to risk, at the lowest possible cost. Here the pension capital is invested in six different asset classes.
Market reports
Read about what’s going in the market right now and follow the return every quarter.
Asset management and returns on the pension profiles
Investment manager Roy Thore Larsen talks about returns on the pension profiles in Q3 2021, what’s happening right now in the financial markets and that we’ve now added commercial property to the pension portfolio.
The Defined-Contribution Pensions Act and introduction of pension accounts from 1 January 2021
The Storting has made changes to the Defined-Contribution Pensions Act and the introduction of pension accounts.
Basically, the legislative amendment means that as an employer, you have an increased obligation to provide information, and that your employees must be given more influence over their own pensions.
In DNB we take responsibility and sustainability seriously
We do not invest in businesses that operate in tobacco production, pornography, controversial weapons, companies with significant activities in coal and oil sands or businesses that are in violation of international standards and norms.
We also take into account environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors in our investment decisions. We take the role of an active investor, which means that DNB gets involved through dialogue with businesses and by voting.
The reason for the dialogue may be specific issues related to ESG but may also be about raising the business’ general sustainability level.
The purpose of the dialogue is to influence the businesses in a positive way. As a guide for defining goals and best practice, we’ve published several expectation documents.
Pension for your employees
As our pension customer, we’ll help you look after your employees. We’ve therefore developed a communication package.
How we can help you as an employer
DNB’s pension experts are available to answer your questions.
You can reach them by telephone on 915 04800, Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 18:00.
You can also send us an email
Every year, we arrange seminars and webinars on relevant topics. These are aimed at the people in charge of the pension scheme in the company.
We also send out email newsletters several times a year. These include useful information about pensions, and which steps you should take.
We work alongside some of the world’s leading companies in cost-effective pension and insurance solutions. Some of our partners include SwissLife, Allianz and Generali Employee Benefits Network (GEB).
We offer:
- multinational pooling, a method for managing risk and saving costs related to employees’ pension schemes;
- reassurance captive, where the company itself bears the risk for its employee coverage;
- advisory services and brokerage of contact between the business and the pensions and insurance supplier in the countries where the company is active.
Our international services are suited to businesses that are subsidiaries of a foreign company, have subsidiaries abroad or who wish to establish subsidiaries abroad.