New End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees in the UAE

New End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE has emerged in UAE as a statutory scheme for the private sector employers and employees. The End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE  program started in November 2023 as an optional replacement to the ESG (end-of-service gratuity) and is intended to offer more framework for legislation, flexibility, and financial security for end-of-service benefits.

Also Read: Important Labour Law for Employee in UAE

What is the New End-of-Service Savings Scheme?

The End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE has been an optional form of ESG system(end-of-service gratuity) for quite some time now. In the existing ESG rules, the employee is entitled to an end-of-service allowance calculated based on his length of service and his last basic emoluments paid when the employment is terminated, but the employment must have a one-year continuous period.

The End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE. However, lets both the employer and employee make contributions to fund an investment scheme, which guarantees capital and may also give higher yields.

Key Features of the End-of-Service Savings Scheme

Voluntary Participation

It must be noted that the scheme is compulsory for employees and employers only in the situation when employers agree to embrace the system. Once they do it will be obligatory for the selected categories of employees that they enroll.

Regular Contributions

Employers are required to make a fraction of the monthly basic wage of each enlisted worker to the investment fund. The contribution rates are:

• It is payable at the rate of 83% after the initial five years of consecutive service.
• 30% for the first three years of service, and 33% for every other subsequent year of the service.
• They also have the option to give in voluntary cash contributions which should not exceed ¼ of the gross salary.

Investment Choices

In the investment program, one can choose between riskless, low, medium-high, and super high-risk portfolios as well as Shariah-compliant funds. It also meant that its employees were able to choose plans depending on their tolerance to risk.

Also Read: Final Settlement in UAE Labour Law & End of Service Benefits

Benefits for Employers and Employees

The new scheme has many advantages for employers as given below:

• Liability Management: Instead of paying a huge sum of cash after the termination of service, employers can make small monthly payments hence exhausting less money when making payments.
• Competitive Edge: Greater financial protection and possible profits are the means to capture and develop the best talents within the organization.
• Reduced Risk: The structure of the scheme safeguards contributions from inflation, default, or even insolvency hence guaranteeing the safety of employees’ savings.

Advantages for Employees

The following advantages are available for employees under the new scheme:

• Capital Protection: The scheme also helps to protect the employees’ savings, thus giving assurance.
• Investment Growth: By experiencing the possibility of getting returns on their contribution, the employees can observe their end-of-service benefits accumulating in time.
• Flexibility: The members can carry forward their contributions to the scheme even if they are no longer employed or can withdraw their savings at any one time.

Recent Developments

The first two investment funds were recently licensed to manage the End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE in July 2024. Their approval was a stage achieved where employers could start enrolling their employees hence preparing the ground for the popularity of the scheme throughout the UAE.

Implementation and Compliance: What an Employer Needs to Know

For employers considering participation in the End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE, several important steps and considerations must be taken into account:

• Application Process: Those employers willing to take part in the scheme are required to apply with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE). Once approved they can thereafter contact one of the licensed investment funds to put in place the scheme for their employees.
• Strategic Evaluation: Employers should understand the advantages that the scheme has to offer both the existing and the prospective employees before they subscribe to it. This assessment should also contain a commentary on the changes that might be realized from the operationalization of the scheme on levels of employee satisfaction and turnover, as well as on the organization’s broad compensation policy.
• Financial Management: Monthly contribution costs involved in the scheme have to be borne by the employer in his/her financial planning. This entails not only providing for such specialized expenditures but also the continuity of these payments and their consistency in a large financial planning and cash flow architecture that is typical of large organizations.
• Selection Of Investment Fund: Employers should evaluate the candidate firms based on some important criteria like; the performance history of the fund, its risk profile, the ethos of the firm/company, and preferred type of fund among the employees. Proper management of the contributions made would be vital, to provide the intended benefits as intended for by the scheme.
• Compliance and Withdrawal: There are reserved situations in which the employer is allowed to withdraw from the scheme, and the employer should know those circumstances as well as the repercussions of withdrawal in detail. It is very important to adhere to all those regulations to escape punishment and to have the confidence of the employees.

Overview of the Employer’s Alternative ECSB Scheme in the UAE

The Employer’s Alternative ECSB Scheme is defined by Cabinet Decision No. 96/2023 and Ministerial Resolution No. 668/2023 which regulates the operational governance of the subject. A standing committee constituted by the MOHRE in cooperation with the Securities and Commodities Authority oversees the targeted implementation of the scheme and enforcement of compliance.

The End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE is a big social change in the management of end-of-service benefits as more secure and liberal for employees and savings for the employer. With the onset of the scheme as it is anticipated, it will form part of the remuneration package of employees in the private sector in the same manner as it is in the global market standards in managing human resources.

End-of-Service Savings Scheme for Employees UAE was preferred so that employers are motivated to embrace the benefits of the scheme and effectively explain the same to their employees hence increasing the possibility of success of this innovative means of getting end-service benefit.

Also Read: Leave Salary Calculation in UAE