A significant number of Australian employers are yet to fully assess the impact of the upcoming Stronger Super reforms on their operations, and more than half don’t have a plan in place to ensure compliance, a new survey conducted by Aon Hewitt has revealed. This is despite the fact that, for many organisations, the new regime is likely to change key aspects of their business, including remuneration packaging, how much superannuation they intend to pay and selection of a default MySuper fund.
The survey’s findings have been compiled in the Australian Superannuation Pulse Survey Report. This looks at how over 160 small, medium and large Australian companies plan to respond to the Stronger Super reforms. The Report’s key findings are:
- Of the 29% of organisations currently paying above the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate, only 11% intend to stay the same amount ahead of the minimum when the SG goes up, whereas 32% will absorb the increase by foregoing the above-market position they currently maintain.
- Employers using a Base Plus approach to remuneration are more likely (40%) to set aside additional funds to finance the Superannuation Guarantee increase in 2013 compared with only 12% of employers using a Remuneration Packaging approach.
- 58% of organisations say they are yet to determine their response to the Superannuation Guarantee increases beyond 2013.
- Only 12% of organisations intend to commence a review to determine which MySuper fund to use as their default fund. Over half (52%) are still deciding what to do.
- Almost three-quarters (74%) are yet to consider an early transition strategy to transfer existing default super balances to MySuper.
Source: Aon Hewitt media release, 27 February 2013
[LTN 39, 27/2/13]