Occupational pension, “tjänstepension,” is a supplementary pension scheme in addition to the statutory pension, “allmän pension.” The occupational pension is offered as a standard benefit in most Swedish companies and a highly expected benefit by employees in Sweden.
Oyster aims to help you attract and retain talent by offering not only statutory benefits but also supplementary benefits through Occupational Pension that is valued and expected in Sweden.
Benefit provider
Skandia, one of the largest pension providers in Sweden, manages the pension plan.
Occupational pension details
Pension contribution depends on the gross salary of the Team Member. The contribution is 4.5% up to a cap of SEK 44,375. In case the salary exceeds this cap, 30% will be applied to the amount exceeding the cap. Employer tax of 24.26% will be applied to the total gross pension amount and this cost will be included in the Service Agreement.
FAQs
How are Team Members enrolled in the occupational pension?
During the onboarding process, the Hiring Success Manager will confirm with you if you will be offering this benefit to your Team Members. Once we receive confirmation from you, your Team Members would be scheduled for enrollment.
No further action will be required from you as Oyster will manage the end-to-end process. Your Team Member will be contacted by Skandia once the pension account is set up with further instructions on how to access their account.
Please note that if you are already providing this benefit to your Team Members, all subsequent hires must also be enrolled in the pension scheme. In this case, we will simply inform you that we will be enrolling the Team Members into the pension scheme.
What are the minimum pension contributions?
The total contribution amount depends on the gross salary of the team member. If the monthly gross salary does not exceed the cap of SEK 44,375, the pension amount will be 4.5% of the gross salary. In case the gross salary exceeds this cap, on the salary amount exceeding the cap 30% will be applied.
In addition to the pension, there is a mandatory employer tax (SLP) of 24.26% applied to the total gross pension amount. For the company, the total pension cost is the sum of pension contributions plus tax.
Is it an ITP?
We do not have a collective agreement, but we offer a pension plan that looks like a collective agreement ITP1. Only the pension element is set up, there are no additional insurances alongside the pension.
Can we choose a custom rate for pension contributions?
No. Due to the equal treatment principle, the contributions are fixed to a % of the gross salary of the team member. The percentages were chosen based on the most common solutions for occupational pension.
Is it mandatory to make retroactive contributions for existing team members?
No. Customers can either provide existing team members with this benefit from their start date (and make retroactive payments) or provide this benefit from the date they wish to offer this benefit. Nonetheless, if customers decide to provide this benefit retroactively, all the customer’s team members should be subject to this preferential option.
Can team members or companies opt out of the pension plan?
All our customers are strongly encouraged to provide this benefit considering the market practice in Sweden. Nonetheless, if customers express their strong preference to opt out of this benefit, Oyster will approve this subject to customers signing a specific Defense and Indemnity Agreement. The purpose of such an agreement is to record customers’ preference to opt out of a benefit, which is highly expected by team members in Sweden. By opting out, potential claims of unequal treatment can be raised by team members given that this benefit will be provided at the company level in Sweden.
