Last week I chaired a one-day KiwiSaver Masterclass conference in Auckland which made me, as an employer, feel much better about implementing a savings scheme in our business.
Basically the thoughts I expressed in an earlier Blog are similar to how others are feeling.
The conference was attended by around 70 people who were predominantly HR and payroll people. A couple of the key takeouts for me were that, yes, the awareness is growing about KiwiSaver, but the knowledge base is still quite low.
In addition to that very few of the delegates had implementation plans in place yet – although the start date is just 10 weeks away.
For SMEs that probably isn’t too bad, but for bigger employers with multi-site operations I suspect things are going to be tight.
One of the issues we face is that there is still an information vacuum. No one has seen what the default products actually look like yet, and Inland Revenue still hasn’t completed some of the forms.
The good news here is that IRD plans to send enrollment packs out in late May. I know many people are looking forward to seeing these.
I understand from the default providers perspective that they are not allowed to promote their schemes until they are signed off by both the IRD and the Government Actuary.
From what I can see the GA –as he is called in the industry – is one of the most important and powerful people in the whole KiwiSaver chain, yet his office only has something like four staff. Geez that seems like one way to overwork people and slow progress down.
The conference was well-worth attending and I will have plenty more to comment on over coming days and weeks on KiwiSaver implementation.
Keep an eye out for future posts (best way to get them is to sign up to the KiwiSaver.net.nz mailing list). Likewise I am interested in any questions you may have and would like answered. Also would love to find out how others are going with implementation. Use the comments box below to get in touch with us.