New Occupational Pension System in Poland With Automatic Enrollment – Impact on HRM Strategies and Pension Participation Rates

The aim of the study is a critical analysis and preliminary assessment of chosen effects of the implementation of a new type of the occupational pension schemes with automatic enrollment: the Employee Capital Plans (PPKs), successively introduced in Poland since 2019. The introduction of employee capital plans may constitute a new quality in the Polish pension system – provided that it will actually be a universal system, covering millions of employees, and not only – as the so far voluntary third pillar of the pension system in Poland – a small percentage of all the employed¹. Initially, the level of participation in the PPKs was assumed to be even around 75%, later expectations were revised to 50%. The current level of participation in employee capital plans (PPKs) is much lower (30-40%). A question arises about the causes of this phenomenon. Based on the results of own empirical investigation, literature studies and analysis of available statistical data on the effects of implementing PPKs in large companies in 2019, in the SME sector in 2020 and the initial results of introducing these occupational products in public sector and in micro-companies in the first quarter of 2021, the authors of the article intend to identify the real interest in using PPKs as an instrument of HRM strategies in large companies and in SME sector in Poland  and SME and the actual level of employees’ interest in their participation in the employee capital plans.