All companies are required to automatically enroll new hires age 18 to 54 in a Pracownicze Plany Kapitalowe (PPK) retirement plan within three months of starting work, unless the employee submits a declaration to opt out of PPK participation. Employees who have opted out face the possibility of automatic enrollment every four years (beginning in 2023), subject to advance notice by the employer, unless they opt out again.
Employers should notify employees with current opt-out declarations that these will expire on February 28, 2023, and prepare to enroll such staff who do not submit a new opt-out declaration by April 1, 2023 (including the establishment of new PPK participation agreements for workers who have never participated in a PPK plan). Subsequent notifications of auto-enrollment will occur every four years (i.e., next one is end of February 2027).
As of November 2022, total assets in PPKs were $2.6 billion (11.5 billion Polish zlotys), according to government data. The total number of participants is 2.8 million, which is much lower than expected by the government, due to the number of employees opting out. The PPK is aimed at an eligible employee population of around 11.5 million, of which the Ministry of Finance estimated 75% would be enrolled. The median participation rate reported by companies surveyed by WTW is 37% (while government data as of November 2022 put the overall participation rate at 34%).
