This report contains information about the process of merging the employment conditions of asr and Aegon.
2e conversation merge
On March 14, 2023, representatives of the three trade unions, HR and employee participation of Aegon as asr had a second, more substantive, meeting. The agenda included the culture of the new organisation, the merger process, the legal framework and the overviews of the terms of employment and pension.
Merge timeline
Manon van der Lely of HR asr and Paul Visser of HR Aegon gave us an explanation of the process of merging the two organizations and the culture trajectory of the new organization. The timeline can be divided into a period up to the closing date (July 1, 2023) in which asr and Aegon are still two separate companies. Only a limited exchange of information is then possible and no integration of activities takes place. Of course things are well prepared. For example, the selection of senior management is already being done but they are not yet appointed, discussions are being held with us about the merger of employment conditions and the legal merger of employers is being worked out down to the last detail.
In the period from July 1 to October 1, 2023, asr and Aegon are still two separate companies under the asr flag. Exchange of information is then allowed, but no integration of activities takes place yet. From July 1, work will be done on the legal merger as of October 1 and the transfer of all relevant employees from Aegon. In the period from 1 October 2023 to 2026, asr and Aegon will be one company, everyone will be included in the HR systems and activities will be integrated into the new organization under the direction of the senior management appointed at that time. During this period, there may also be possible reorganisations.
The Culture
It is a fact that mergers can go wrong because of differences in the cultures of the organizations. Although there are many similarities between Aegon and asr, there are also differences. To map this out, a culture survey will be conducted among 500 asr and 500 Aegon employees. They are asked questions about the current culture, the desired culture after integration and the perception of the culture of the other. The (intended) senior management is also periodically trained on agility and cultural values for the new organization. These are parts of a culture program for the new organisation. After all, a well-formulated, clear and recognizable desired culture contributes to acceptance and understanding and increases employee involvement and motivation.
Legal framework
Jop Ringeling of the AWVN has given us a lecture on collective labor law by outlining various legal scenarios along which the merger and the merging of employment conditions can proceed. In short, we can do everything at once on October 1, but then we should actually be ready by July 1 to arrange the administrative side. That is quite short notice for such an extensive job. Or we split the process into two parts by only doing what needs to be done before the employer merger and then working on a new collective agreement for the new organization until both collective labor agreements expire on 1 July 2024. The duration of the two social plans is different. Aegon's social plan ends on July 1, 2024 and that of asr on January 1, 2025. For the time being, it seems logical to allow the two current social plans to continue until at least July 1, 2024. Whether this actually works in practice remains to be seen. we investigate further.
The pension is not transferred according to the Transfer of Companies Act (OvO) if the receiving party also offers a pension scheme. A pension scheme applies at asr. Employers have not yet taken a position on pensions, so we will return to this later. All matters contained in the employee handbook agreed with Aegon's Central Works Council are also covered. Depending on the relationship with Aegon's collective labor agreement, the employment condition is a harder or softer legal point to negotiate.
Overviews of employment conditions
We have received overviews of the terms of employment and pension from asr and Aegon. All terms and conditions of employment are also clustered in the blocks remuneration/allowances/job evaluation, time, mobility, vitality, study and development, staff discounts and insurances, disability, pension, social plan and other. Together we have estimated that the block remuneration, mobility and disability may be the most difficult. The next meeting (March 24, 2023) we will tackle mobility and development to start with. Our intention is to ultimately provide insight at an individual level into what it all means for you in terms of terms of employment. For example with a personal benefit statement.
contact
If you have any questions, please contact the representative Emanuel Geurts at emanuel.geurts@unie.nl and by telephone 06 5252-2074 XNUMX† If you have an individual question or need advice, please contact our Service Center via sc@unie.nl or by phone via 0345 851-963 XNUMX. We are happy to advise you!
