Does Sanofi offer its US employees a pension plan in addition to 401K? I'm a Genzyme employee at Cambridge office - so am now part of Sanofi and we'll probably rolled into their retirement benefits next year. I just got a great offer at another company (good benefits - no pension though). I'm wondering if it's worth it to stick with Genzyme-Sanofi to get the pension?
Sanofi does have a pension, but it is unclear as to what they will do with those coming from Genzyme. When sanofi bought Aventis, the Aventis reps didn't have a pension but had a cash balance plan. They put the cash balance plan in an annuity for each employee and it draws interest. Aventis employees were then put into the sanofi pension plan, but vesting started at that point. So, those employees started from scratch. I need about 10 years to begin collecting pension from sanofi, but doubt we'll make it that long.
WHEN WE CAME OVER FROM AVENTIS WE KEPT OUR MOMEY AND WERE GRANDFATHERED INTO THE SANOFI PLAN. ALL IN ALL WE MADE OUT BIG TIME. HOPE THEY DO SAME FOR YOU
Wrong. We did get to keep our money from the savings plan and did get into the pension plan. We were not grandfathered into the plan with years of service. We started from scratch in the sanofi pension plan - look on the Savitz site and years of eligibility equal exactly the years since sanofi bought Aventis. We made out fine but did not get years with Aventis counted toward pension. I would have rather had Aventis' cash savings plan because that money is YOURS to keep, even if you get laid off. With sanofi you lose the pension if you get laid off before qualifying for retirment. Cash savings plans are WAY better!
Thats incorrect.. after 5 years of service.. pension benefits are 100% accrued.. you don't lose your pension benefits if you are laid off before retirement age..You are fully funded and will get yearly payments for life..
WOW, so many contradictary claims about our pension plan. The bottom line is there are so many people from different legacy companies which were merged through the years, pension payouts will depend on your length of service and who you worked for before. The long-term employees (30 years +) receive the best payouts upon retirement (as they should for their dedicated length of service) and the shorter term employees get, well, let's say they can't bank on their pensions to provide adequate retirement income. As for the Genezyme newbies, do you honestly believe you will work for this company long enough to accrue a sizable pension?
There are two aspects to the pension plan (eligibility and value) that are affected by your time with the company and any legacy companies 1) Eligibility to receive benefits - this is determined by your cumulative time with either or both legacy companies. If you have worked for either company a total of 5 years, you are vested and eligible to receive pension benefits. 2) Value of pension benefits - this is determined b the length of time you have worked for Sanofi. Nothing else. This is the time referred to as "credited years of service" and it determines how much your pension benefits are worth. Those employees from the legacy Sanofi company pre-Aventis takeover have the highest value of their pension benefits. Those with Aventis legacy are only receiving credited years of service from January 1, 2006 and on. Just because you may be vested does not mean that you receive the same dollar valued pension as someone from anpther legacy company. This is the absolute accurate info for legacy Sanofi and legacy Aventis people. How it affects Genzyme I haven't the slightest idea. Call Savitz if you don't believe me.
Sanofi, like most pharma co's is a mutt company with so many pieces brought together that there is no universal truth about pension. I suggest talking to your HR person to attempt to get the straight story and good luck. Even if you sre pension "eligible" considet taking the higher salary and banking the difference towards your own "pension" as there are no guarantees that the co wont sack you before you reach the big pension money. Just ask the people from PFE about that.
Cash savings plans aren't always better. In today financial environment pension plans come out better. For a $50,000 pension in todays' world, it takes about $3,000,000 to generate $50,000 per/year. And you will never accumulate $3.000.000 in a cash plan!!!!!
Recently read the following: The website ImmediateAnnuities.com provides representative online quotes for different life annuity terms. For example, a $2300/month fixed monthly payment from an annuity, assuming you are 65, would cost about $333,000 if it was life-only. It would cost as much as $387,000 if it was for life or 20 years certain. Add a 62-year-old spouse with 100% survivor benefits, and it would cost about $415,000. So, need to decide whether to stick with Sanofi 5-10 years to try to get a pension, or take the job offer with higher salary and stock options at a smaller company that's growing...tough decision.
You're making a big assumption: The company's pension plan is solvent and the business continues generating enough cash to fund the pension plan. I grew up in a town where 20,000 people and their families were dependent on a pension. Company went under and the pension plan was gone. Would still rather have the cash savings plan - you have the money and it's in your control. If you think sanofi will be around forever with a funded pension plan, you have other issues to worry about.
But since Sanofi is a French company and must provide a pension to their EU employees, I would think that there's a higher chance that their pension will be around vs a U.S. company (??)
call the company i hate to say it but you are wrong- employees from aventis were rolled over into sanofi pension (unless maybe you came for hmr?) and were vested with same start date-jan 2006-so for sanofi pension (unless you have a pension from hmr) you have to put in at least 10 years (think 2017) to have anything of value on a monthly basis-i checked by calling the company-i am legacy rpr and all i have is a cash balance acct from that and a health savings acct from aventis (which is not very much in terms of value i was shocked) not much to show for many years total except for 401 which looks like shit right now`1aqqqq
Wrong----I was legacy RPR and Aventis, retired, and collecting a pension from s-a. The pension value is ONLY from the merger date in 2006----that's it! Even if you had 20, 30, 40 years with legacy RPR, your pension value only started from 2006 and not your original anniversary date. The pension is not much but it pays a cable bill and a few other odds and ends. The cash balance account is NOT paid out as an annuity if you don't want to do so. You can just leave it there and it earns a respectable4+% interest. Not everyone converted their RPR pension plan monies to a cash balance plan---it was their choice. The only way you will get the right info is to call Savitz and they are very very helpful.
There were a lot of HMR people who were part of Aventis when we merged with Sanofi so this may be the poster's legacy. I'm shocked too at what RPR employees with the same long-term service have compared to HMR folks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't former RPR employees get options which matured before the Sanofi merger? I understand that was a hefty sum. If that includes you, what happened to that money?
Yes, RPR reps received options based on your performance and the companies. I cashed out on the majority of them 10-11 years ago. Nice money, but when I retired , I left a lot of them on the table as they were worthless. HMR and sanofi legacy people have the absolute best benefits when they retire---great, cheap medical coverage, and great pensions. The rest of us had better have a good 401k to carry us thru!
