In this message we inform you about the periodic consultation of HR, COR and trade unions on Thursday 11 May 2023.
Senior management appointments
Director HR Clim Parren reported that senior management appointments in the new combination have shifted a few times. They will probably get clarity about their future in the week of May 15, 2023. Communication about the appointments will take place later, but before closing.
Global Engagement Survey
Paul Visser of HR provided an explanation of the results of the GES (Global Engagement Survey). Shortly after the announcement of the merger, there has been a dip in employee engagement. It seems quite logical to us, but it is now back to the old level. One of the points to address is internal communication. This is in line with what we have received and transmitted as a signal. The MT NL will have to communicate more to employees about what is going on at asr and remainco until July 2023.
HR
The next guests were Els Jacobs and Annemijn Snuif from Global HR Compensation & Benefits to speak about the unbundling and remainco. The collective labor agreement, the social plan and the pension scheme have been arranged. For the personnel schemes, this can still be done with the employee participation. Because HR NL will be joining asr, a new HR team can be formed for the staff in the new personnel company Aegon Employees Netherlands (AEN). HR AEN is part of HR Global and almost complete. That is also necessary, because the moment of transition to AEN is fast approaching. It will be that time in about six weeks and there is still some work to be done to get all employees neatly entered into the payroll administration. After the transition and closing, we hold periodic consultations with HR AEN about the implementation of the remaining collective agreements and developments in the organization as we now do with HR NL.
Aegon headquarters
With regard to the location of Aegon's head office, the situation is that it has been agreed in the deal with asr that the building can be used up to a year after closing. An external consultant is now working on a number of scenarios. Is the Corperate Center going to Amsterdam together with AAM, for example, or are they both looking for their own location in Amsterdam and The Hague? The scenarios are presented to both parts, employee participation bodies and Lard Friese. So to be continued.
Aegon Asset Management
Trade unions have indicated that they want to get more background at Aegon's business units. What concerns them, what issues are at stake, what exactly are they doing, to what extent do the collective agreements help in business operations and in the relationship with employees? What expectations/concerns do they have about the asr/Aegon combination?
We discussed this with Barbara Bakker, CEO at AAM. Barbara took us into the current affairs at AAM. A current event is the recent acquisition by AAM of the CLO-team of NIBC, which fits perfectly in the growth/champion strategy that AAM has. AAM NL has transferred the liquid assets to asr and vice versa for the illiquid assets. asr is AAM's largest customer. Cost pressure at AAM is high due to loss of income and rising interest rates. This also puts pressure on the staff, as the growth strategy must be further implemented.
There is uncertainty about the locations in The Hague and Groningen and about future employment conditions. The approximately 350 employees in The Hague and 80 in Groningen (TKP) would like clarity on this and would prefer to stay in the cities. The current collective labor agreement of Aegon NL is highly appreciated and when one thinks about the future (of the terms of employment), the staff looks at the terms of employment in the UK or USA and these are really perceived as less attractive. Here too, this is still being pursued.
Contact
Are there any questions of remarks about the newsletter? Let it the representative Emanuel Geurts know by email emanuel.geurts@unie.nl or via 06-5252 2074. Do you have a individual question of need at advice, please contact our Service Center at sc@unie.nl of telephone via 0345-851 963. We advise you je keen to!
