South Africa may follow worldwide trends in which employee benefits are becoming more flexible and portable - so you don't lose your benefits when you leave your employer.
Ian Patrick, a senior director at actuaries and consultants, Alexander Forbes, says there has been some flexibility in employee benefits in this country, but it has been aimed mainly at companies' upper-echelon employees and has rarely included retirement benefits.
"We have called it package restructuring and typically you would have traded up or down on your car allowance in exchange for a portion of your cash salary, or you would have sacrificed some of your salary in return for better medical aid benefits."
The employment deal between employers and their employees is changing around the world.
Patrick was speaking at the recent convention of the Institute of Life and Pension Advisors (ILPA) on international trends in employee benefits and its impact on South Africa.
He says in the United States there is a movement away from paternalistic employment, towards short-term contracts which are to the employers and employee's mutual advantage.
The huge increase in temporary, part-time or contract workers in many countries bears witness to this trend.
In Japan, for example, it was previously expected that you would join a company out of school and stay with that employer throughout your working career.
Today, many Japanese corporations are no longer content with the lack of flexibility that that implies and are encouraging turnover.
This requires greater portability of retirement benefits between jobs.
Worldwide, the changes to benefits offered by employers is being encouraged by changing population profiles, which are seeing more female employees (who traditionally have breaks in their careers), as well as more temporary and part-time workers at companies, says Patrick.
Other factors which are driving the changes are greater employee mobility, shorter careers, a desire from individuals for flexibility in the workplace and an increased awareness of benefits.
On the other side of the coin, companies are viewing benefits within the context of total rewards and they realise a reallocation may be necessary.
Employers are now looking at the total cost of employing you and of allowing you to carve up the amount they spend on benefits in any way you see fit.
Employees are being offered a choice between all their benefits, such as risk benefits, paid leave, car allowances, medical aids and bursaries.
They are also choosing between benefits, such as opting for a pension or provident fund, deciding on the level of contribution, and choosing where to invest the money.
Some of the increased flexibility in employee benefits has been facilitated by the general worldwide trend to defined contribution arrangements, which provide the scope for employers to allow flexibility.
Of course, flexibility in itself is not necessarily a good thing, Patrick says.
"In many instances your retirement savings make up your single biggest asset, besides your house, and being less than conservative about your investments is a bad thing," he warns.
"You have to be careful to get the right education and information to make the right choices when it comes to investing your retirement savings."
Flexibility only becomes meaningful if it meets your lifestyle requirements and you get the support you require from your employer, he says.
While in Britain and the United States employees can make their own investment choices, there seems to be a widespread lack of knowledge of investments among individuals, Patrick says.
A United States survey indicates that while 75 percent of people feel competent to make these investment choices, they don't understand many of the basics of investing.
"The lack of knowledge of the risk and profile of investments is quite disconcerting."