On 1 July 2026, the current social plan expires. Yesterday, on 2 April 2026, we held our first (exploratory) meeting with Achmea regarding a new social plan. This is important, because there will undoubtedly be reorganisations in the coming years as well, whether it concerns the announced impact of AI, changes at APS, or the upcoming closure of the head office in Zeist. In this message, we would like to briefly update you on the initial meeting and give you the opportunity to provide input or share your opinion.
Stake De Unie
We think it is important that Achmea employees have security regarding the social consequences during reorganisations. This includes a good social plan. The current social plan is a good plan. Therefore, we would like to extend it – fundamentally – for the coming years as well. At the same time, there is one important point of attention.
From 1 July 2027, your pension scheme will change. In the context of the Future Pensions Act (Wet toekomst pensioenen, WTP), your pension will no longer be built up using a rising scale (higher contributions as you get older), but with a flat-rate premium. Employees who are in service at that time will be compensated for this, which could involve a substantial sum of money. Therefore, if you have to leave the company shortly before that date, you will suffer a significant disadvantage as a result. We believe that a compensation agreement is needed for this.
In addition, we feel that we need to take another good look at the stated amounts from the old social plan. Because we also extended the plan more or less unchanged last time, it might be necessary to increase (index) these amounts.
Achmea's involvement
The good news is that Achmea also wants to continue the current plan in broad outlines. Achmea is also willing to make agreements on a form of pension compensation. In addition, Achmea has proposed adapting the criteria for redundancy if your role is relocated. Unlike in the current social plan, this will also take into account the possibility of working from home, the actual number of times you have to go to the office and the way you travel.
What do you think?
On Thursday 9 April, we’ll be continuing our discussion with Achmea. Do you have any ideas, suggestions or requests? Or would you like to comment on the work of De Unie and/or Achmea? If so, please send a message to huug.brinkers@unie.nl.
As always, we will keep the employees informed of the follow-up. We think it should be possible to reach an agreement with Achmea in a quick and constructive manner, and as soon as this is the case, you – together with the other Unie members – will have the final say, but more on that later.
