Great-West Life has launched a new website, at vrsp-greatwestlife.com, to help Quebec businesses set up their company’s voluntary retirement savings plans (VRSPs), once legislation has passed. VRSPs are expected to be available Jan. 1, 2013.
The legislation will require employers with five or more employees to offer a VRSP to their employees by Jan. 1, 2015, unless they already have another group retirement savings plan in place.
“Many small- and medium-sized business owners may not have the time or in-house resources to meet the requirements of the proposed VRSP legislation, or they may not be certain how to proceed,” said Jeff Aarssen, vice-president of group retirement services sales and marketing for Great-West Life.
Great-West Life’s VRSP website has information and tools to help Quebec employers to meet the universal access requirement. It also offers information on how a group retirement savings plan can help attract and retain employees.
“The VRSP offers a strategic framework for other provinces as they develop their respective versions of the federal government’s proposed pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) legislation and is an important addition to the group retirement savings plans options for small to medium-sized businesses,” said Aarssen.
He noted that the Quebec government expects VRSPs to provide more than two million Quebec workers with access to a group retirement savings plan through their workplace, although employees may opt out of the plan if they choose.