ĠEMMA Know, Plan, Act within the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights and EMCS Academy, within EMCS Ltd, recently delivered a series of training sessions targetting Human Resources Managers, CEOs and Managing Directors introducing the integration of Voluntary Occupational Retirement Pension Schemes (VORPS).
The Ministry through ĠEMMA has recognised the need to engage Senior Management and offer them the necessary tools to create awareness and deliver the various tax advantages related to VORPS.
The training sessions, delivered online, focused mainly on how Voluntary Occupational Retirement Pension Schemes (VORPS) can be implemented as a Strategic HR Retention Tool as well as an instrument for employees to save for their retirement with the help of their employers. The goal is to bridge the total future pension income and the income earned during employment.
These training sessions covered also the tax benefits available for employers and how such tax benefits make the VORPS proposal attractive for employers especially when one considers the cost of employee turnover.
Positive feedback was received from participants who also put forward interesting questions. One can visit ĠEMMA’s website to follow one of the recorded training sessions on https://gemma.gov.mt/videos/
ĠEMMA’s Group Leader, Ms Helena Holland stated, ‘ the principles underpinning the training material are unbiased, fair, accurate and educational. Our aim is to empower Senior Management, particularly HR Managers so that they are in a position to encourage their employees to utilise VORPS’
Mr Mark Musu`, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, added that the aim of such training is to have more companies take up the VORPS. ‘This is a sterling opportunity for one to plan for his/her future and not to depend solely on the state pension so as they may retain their standard of living upon retirement’
Mr Stefano Mallia, Partner, EU & Business Advisory, EMCS stated that the EMCS Academy is pleased to have delivered training on VORPS through its experienced trainers, which training material sought to provide employers with the tools to offer a simple and innovative personal pension plan. Mr Mallia emphasized ‘this new type of voluntary personal pension is designed to give employers incentives to support their employees when they are putting money aside for retirement. It offers a win-win solution and a positive outlook to retirement.’