Blog /Where the Really Evil Companies Make Their Money: Us

April 09, 2013 22:25 +0000  |  0

I've had an interesting learning experience over the past few days in the area of planning for my future and I thought it worth sharing. It turns out, without my informed consent, I've been investing in some truly unethical companies lately. More to the point, it's entirely possible that you are too, so this may be worth a read.

My employer, the RIPE NCC, is a pretty awesome company. Ignoring for the moment the really cool stuff we do for the internet in general, the my company goes out of its way to care for its employees. I'm reimbursed for my transit expenses, I get a free bike, a free tablet, and for people coming to work for us from out of town, they even subsidise living expenses for up to a year. There's a subsidised yoga class twice per week, subsidised in-house massages, and they also cover a gym membership. It's a pretty amazing place to work, so I don't want to give the impression that I don't think they're fabulous but there's one hitch: they also supply a private pension.

The Netherlands, like most civilised countries, has a national pension plan into which all employed persons must contribute. Some companies will pay this amount for you, while others will simply take it off the top of your paycheuqe. Either way, everyone pays and there's no getting out of it.

However some companies (like mine) go a step further and contribute to a private pension scheme in your name that provides benefits over and above the basic pension. This is largely considered a benefit when your employer does this but after I did some digging I found out where that private pension money is being invested: it goes into the war chests of companies like Exxon, Pfizer, Shell, and HSBC.

Put another way, I've been working for my employer for just over eight months now, and every month, I've been helping evil companies do evil... without even knowing it.

This is the Big Secret when it comes to the mega corporations out there. The warchests they use to buy legislation and fund bogus studies denying climate change... that money comes from us: our mutual funds, our pensions. These funds are often managed by people lacking even a rudimentary moral compass, making their decisions on (financial) risk and profit alone.

In other words, all of that effort we're putting into building a cleaner world is being erased by the companies we fund with our pensions.

I'll be talking with HR this week and will be asking them to specifically exempt me from this policy. If possible, I'll request that they move my plan into a more sustainable model, or barring that, remove it altogether. I'd rather lose the pension than let Exxon make a penny off of me.

Now you may feel different about all this, and that's fine -- well it's not fine, but I can't control what you do with your money. However, on the off chance that there are others out there who enjoy such benefits from their employer, I thought I might point out that you and your employer may not see eye-to-eye on what makes for an ethical investment. It only takes a few mintues to talk to HR and get things cleared up, and your grandkids may thank you for it.

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