Retirement Letter

What’s the deal with this letter over the weekend? What a slap in the face to people who have been here for years. I can understand cost savings but you should grandfather in an employee who already works here. I feel sorry for those people in their low 50s who have retirement plans in the next couple years.
Way to Motivate your sales team before we launch potential biggest drug in Novo Nordisk history.

 

Welcome to J&J Nordisk.

 

What did the letter say?

 

I agree with OP. Should have grandfathered current employees. What's the point in working towards a retirement goal if the goalposts keep moving. And spare me with the "we are aligning the plan to what most employees already do" crap. If that were the case, it wouldn't save you anything. You're screwing over all the employees who had worked hard toward an earlier retirement.

 

1. This move ensures they get a reduction in field force this fall without the optics of it being the 4th consecutive fall with “displacements”. Pretty savy plus it clears mostly higher-end earners off the books.

2. If there is anyone that thinks the retirement plan will not change again, you’re crazy. They are going to dissolve the thing altogether except for executive level employees within the next 3-5 years. Unless you are nearing 60 or 60+, you are not going to retire from Novo with any kind of package.

 

Who the hell retires at 55 anyway?

 

All that is impacted here is the Medical account.

 

Hit 55, retire, take the benes and then go work a job you'll actually like

 

I am guessing that was not your goal but retiring from NNI at 55 was the goal of others. Either way, it is irrelevant. It is yet another perk that was taken away.

 

And all that money sits in a fake account that we can never touch. I think the nominal dollars should vest after X years and be portable. What's the point in looking at how much is in your 401h if you can never hope to use it?

 

For anyone who has been here a while, it is a SIGNIFICANT amount of money. If you’ll hit 55 before 1/1/19, you’re lucky. Many of us are not.....

 

$150,000+ at stake for me. I’ll be “retiring” before next January.

 

Well said.

 

what day was it sent. I didn't see anything.

 

Greedy company that gets more greedy by the minute! Trust me, I would take the money and run if I could now. I’m 50 and this pisses me off to no end. I had every intention of getting out of here in 5 years. I love how they brag about the maternity benefit that benefits very few of us. BS. Period.

 

What's crazy is it's money they've already committed. By causing more people to forfeit the funds they've already accrued, they're essentially stealing from those accounts. I'm sure back home in Denmark, they're not raiding the pension fund...and of course, our executives are not affected, per the email; just the minions.

The 401h was a benefit that many of us were planning on utilizing as part of an early retirement. I set my investment goals up around it being available to me at 55.

The one year of notice means squat unless you're already of a certain age. Thanks a lot, Novo.

 

That's correct. The 401(h) account is a notional account. (if you look in the letter you'll see that word is in bold print, just as I did it)

A notional account means that there is the 'notion" that real money is on deposit in an account. In fact no account with money in it exists at all. After you qualify, the "amount" in the account will be spent on your behalf by NNI for health insurance. You will never see or take possession of a dime of it. Once the amount of money shown in the account has been spent, NNI will no longer purchase medical insurance on your behalf.

 

Partially true, but I can invest the 401h how I see fit so that money IS somewhere. If I don't make it until whatever retirement age Novo chooses, that money is returned to Novo. The money exists. We are just not vested in it. That enables the company to "give" far more than they actually probably can to these accounts, seeing as for every 20 opened, likely 1 is ever paid out.

 

Why all the pessimism here? Tax Reform will pay off huge dividends for our retirement. Stop stressing. Our retirement is secure due to Novo making huge profits and taking care of us!!

 

When a company makes a change to benefits such as this one, there is usually an unspoken reason why it's done.

While the letter did mention some reasons for making the change, what it did not say was it's going to force some people to leave the company prior to 1/1/2019. Some NNI employees who have 10 or more years of service and are at least 55 years old will have to make a decision between now and January 1st, 2019. Do they leave prior to that date and ensure they receive the 401(h) account? Or do they stay with Novo until age 60 and risk losing it. If they stay, but leave Novo voluntarily prior to age 60, they lose it. There is a one year "bridge" - if you are a year short of 10 years or a year short of age 60, then they'll credit you with that year, IF YOU ARE INVOLUNTARILY TERMINATED. If you leave voluntarily, you forfeit the money.

Novo already knows exactly how many of their employees are in the above situation. It's only a matter of time until they know exactly how many decided to leave the company.