At Sanlam Employee Benefits, we work tirelessly to provide cost-effective, transparent and practical retirement funding vehicles to a wide range of South Africans through our industry-leading umbrella funds and stand-alone funds.

This enables employers to positively impact on their employees’ financial wellness through packaged, flexible retirement savings and insured benefits that allow them to build and protect wealth.

Sanlam is one of Africa’s leading financial services groups. Our standing in the employee benefits industry is confirmed by the size of the funds entrusted to us by our clients, the number of members who we take towards retirement, the impact of our research, the awards that we have won and our tireless efforts to help create good retirement outcomes for the people of our country.

Understanding the context of retirement funding
Almost half of the breadwinners approaching retirement believe that they have saved enough to maintain their quality of lifestyle through the next phase of their lives. However, only one in every four retirees actually retires with enough savings to do so. In addition, most employees find themselves in a context characterised by poor decision-making, high costs, low savings-levels and consumption-driven debt.

The challenges that have led to the status quo have been identified by our research, and the solutions to enable good retirement outcomes are driven by our leading-edge capability to analyse data and marry our insight with practical executions. A capability that is focused on enabling employers to tangibly improve the financial wellness of their workforce.

This is why Sanlam Employee Benefits is able to do more than just provide a cost-efficient infrastructure through which employers can help their employees to accumulate retirement wealth.

We understand the challenges of the context in which we operate – challenges that arise from the pressures of leading a company through an uncharted economic environment while simultaneously trying to cater for the retirement funding needs of your employees.

We use the insights gained from our annual Sanlam Benchmark research to make it easy for you to help your employees to move towards good retirement outcomes.

We want employers to be able to focus on what you do best by partnering with you to enable your employees to build and protect their retirement wealth through our leading-edge platforms – platforms that are built on 35 years of research, 97 years of innovation and a singular focus on creating a better future for your employees.

The Sanlam Benchmark Symposium
This annual symposium unpacks the results of Sanlam’s comprehensive research into retirement in SA. The research provides data that assists employers, trustees, principal officers and benefit consultants with the design of employee benefit structures, and has been doing so for 35 years.

It also outlines the state of retirement in SA, including our low savings rate, retirement reform and increasing longevity. Details can be found at www.sanlambenchmark.co.za.

Our product offering is relevant to both employers and employees
Sanlam Employee Benefits is a recognised leader in SA’s retirement funding industry.

We offer umbrella funds, stand-alone funds, insurance and investment services to provide employers with ways to offer retirement funding for their employees with a trusted company that consistently delivers reliable and transparent value.

Umbrella funds pool the contributions of various employees and multiple employers into a single purpose-built vehicle to provide cost savings, professional governance and reduced risk.

Our first umbrella fund was established in 2008. Today, our umbrella fund has more than 170 000 members.

Sanlam offers comprehensive investment options, ranging from trustee-approved default strategies to a range of institutionally priced portfolios drawn from the best asset managers in the industry.

In addition, qualifying members have the option to invest their savings in retail collective schemes or in the stock market.

Award-winning capabilities

• The FIA Award for Employee Benefits Supplier of the Year 2011 and 2012.
• The POA Imbasa Yegolide Award for the Umbrella Fund of the Year 2010 and 2011.
• The POA Imbasa Yegolide Award for Actuarial Firm of the Year 2012, won by our consulting business Simeka Consultants & Actuaries.
• The IRF Communication Challenge Award in the Umbrella Funds Category 2011.
• The PMR Golden Arrow Award 2012 for excellent retirement fund administration in the City of Cape Town and Cape Peninsula Survey.
• The PMR Diamond Arrow Award 2013 for excellent retirement fund administration (first overall in category) in the City of Cape Town and Cape Peninsula Survey.
• The PMR Golden Arrow Award 2012 and 2013 for excellent retirement fund administration in the Boland Survey.

We have the right people and the right infrastructure
Our leading-edge technological platform is an administration system suited to the South African legislative environment. The platform is web-based, which in turn enables employers to access a host of information and complete the full spectrum of fund transactions online.

Employees are able to view their benefits or switch their own investments online. Sanlam Employee Benefits offers regionalised client services, with post-sales service teams that provide face-to-face and ongoing professional services to clients. Our industry leadership is a function of the quality of our people (diversity and technical competence), our service, our products and our operational systems.

Proof of what we do:

• We have appointed some of the best people within the industry in terms of experience and capabilities.
• We have completely redesigned our service model to be client centric.
• We have developed some of the most innovative products in the industry.
• We have built best-of-breed operational systems.
• We have increased new business inflows by more than 180% over the last six years.
• We have increased our operational profit by almost 120% over the last six years.

We are highly competitive
We put in every effort to drive down costs, which translate into increased benefits combined with competitive advantages for members.

Proof of what we do:

• Participating employers and their employees have the benefit of having their risk placed with the more competitive of two insurers.

We do good business
Sanlam Employee Benefits is here for the long haul. Our approach to business is both ethical and responsible. Our funds comply with all the latest applicable best practices, legislation and regulations in the retirement fund industry, including the King III Code of Governance. Our Board of Trustees has implemented various sub-committees to take care of day-to-day matters and specialist issues, and to formally report to the full board, which remains responsible for taking final decisions.

Sanlam Employee Benefits’ sub-committees oversee functions such as investments, administration, auditing, governance and risks, communication, complaints, benefit allocations and the management of insured benefits.

Proof of what we do:

• Governance is ensured and maintained by the professional Board of Trustees, with 50% being independent member-elected trustees.
• Our Joint Forums provide a structured process with employer and employee representation.
• Sanlam Employee Benefits’ costs are transparent and clearly indicated on all quotations.
• Sanlam rates as a Level 3 contributor based on the Department of Trade and Industry’s scorecard. This implies 100% recognition for procurement purposes.
• We always treat all member information as strictly confidential.

We invest in long-term relationships
We foster a long-term, professional business relationship with our stakeholders so that, together, we can make their businesses more successful.

Proof of what we do:

• We have done client segmentation in each business unit.
• We have designed appropriate service models for each client segment.
• Each of our strategic clients has been allocated to a dedicated relationship holder.
• We have a dedicated team managing our relationships with trade unions.
• The members of Sanlam Employee Benefits’ top management are actively involved in the relationship with our strategic clients.
• We create opportunities for businesses to interact with their clients, for example, the Benchmark Symposium.
• We have extensive engagement, communication and training programmes for stakeholder groups such as fund members and fund trustees.

What are the questions you need to ask about the retirement fund for your employees?
If you are an employer who would like to implement a retirement fund or switch funds, it is important to be clear about your expectations, requirements and objectives. The following are points that should be considered: 

• How will a fund benefit the employer, the company and the employees?
• What are your expectations of the fund?
• Do you want to offer your employees insured benefits in the event of death and disability?
• Are the employees going to contribute?
• Are you aware of the implications of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act (2013)?
• How much can you afford to contribute?
• When would the fund commence?
• In the case of switching funds, what are the main criticisms against the existing fund?

Contact us
If you are already part of us, we would like you to know that your business is in good hands. At the same time, we also invite you to contact us with any comments or concerns. We are here to help create wealth for you and your employees or members. If you are not a participating employer or member but do resonate with our approach to providing retirement benefits to South Africans, we invite you to contact us. It all starts with finding common ground to create wealth for everyone.

For more information, contact Conrad Roper (New Business Development Consultant, Sanlam Employee Benefits – Client Solutions) on 083 408 7883. Or visit www.sanlam.co.za. For market research details: www.sanlambenchmark.co.za.