The message is not simply that more pension provision is needed. It is that the regional conversation around pensions is more fragmented than many reward strategies assume.
Employers across Central and Eastern Europe are investing more heavily in health benefits, but one part of the employee value proposition continues to lag behind: pensions. GrECo’s latest comparative Health & Benefits Study shows that supplementary pension provision remains the weakest and most unevenly developed pillar of the regional benefits landscape, despite ageing populations, rising concern around retirement adequacy and growing pressure on employers to think more broadly about long-term workforce resilience.
Not Absent, But Underdeveloped
Employers recognise the importance of financial security and employee wellbeing, yet pensions are still on the peripheries of most benefits strategies. Our study shows that outside Poland, where the mandatory PPK framework has fundamentally changed the picture, employer-supported pension provision remains limited. In Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Türkiye it ranges between 20 and 43%. In other words, one of the benefits most closely linked to long-term security remains one of the least embedded in practice.
The CEE region is facing rapid demographic change, with populations ageing and statutory pension replacement rates remaining relatively low in several markets. At the same time, employee anxiety about retirement is rising. Yet, our findings show, for many employers, pensions still feel too complex, too distant, or too difficult to communicate clearly enough to become a meaningful part of the offer.
Why Companies Should Pay Attention
The message is not simply that more pension provision is needed. It is that the regional conversation around pensions is more fragmented than many reward strategies assume. Poland is structurally different because of automatic enrolment and the widespread use of PPK, with additional supplementary vehicles. Elsewhere, uptake depends far more on local tax treatment, contribution models, market maturity and employee understanding. Treating CEE as one pension market risks creating benefit structures that may look consistent on paper but fail to land in practice.
Employers must move beyond the idea of regional standardisation as sameness and towards something more workable: alignment around principles, supported by local adaptation. In pensions especially, that means understanding where simplicity matters more than sophistication, where incentives are already doing part of the work, and where communication may be the real missing link.
About the Study
The survey targeted HR professionals and decision-makers in companies that offer at least one insurance benefit, such as group life insurance, private medical care, or pension schemes. Interviews were conducted either via telephone or in person, using a quota sampling method to ensure balanced representation across company sizes and industries. The questionnaire was carefully structured into four key areas: medical care, risk benefits, pensions and wellbeing.
Read the preview of the report.
Ewelina Jaworska-Bień
Head of People Solutions
T +48 504 178 064
