Retirement planning will remain a major issue for workers of Quebec-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that don’t offer pension plans.
According to the latest SME Confidence Index—Fonds de solidarité FTQ, 54% of Quebec SMEs do not offer pension plans or other forms of contribution to employees’ retirement plans. What is especially striking is that of this number, 93% do not intend to do so in the next three years.
The economic sluggishness plaguing Europe and the U.S. could be one factor affecting Quebec SMEs. According to the survey, the SME confidence index has dropped more than 2 points since May, down to 67.4. And while the majority of SMEs (84%) are projecting a sales increase in the next 12 months, there is still some apprehension in the market—the number is a decrease of 7.1 points from three months ago.
Luc Godbout, a professor at Université de Sherbrooke and lead researcher in public finance at the Research Chair in Taxation and Public Finance, says that SMEs need to pay particular attention to the looming labour shortage—a result of baby boomers leaving the workforce.
“It’s astonishing how, despite the fact that 40% of SMEs are already feeling the effects of the labour shortage on sales and believe that the imminent departure of the baby boomers will affect their business, they are not clamouring to take advantage of the incentives offered by the Quebec government to encourage experienced workers to remain in the workforce,” said Godbout. “The fact is that only one out of four favours holding onto workers by deferring their retirement. In-house training is a much more popular strategy, and sourcing is preferred to integrating immigrant workers.”