Employee Benefits

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Text block [abstract]

Employee Benefits

Note 17. Employee Benefits

The Company has various labor liabilities for employee benefits in connection with pension, seniority and post-retirement medical benefits. Benefits vary depending upon the country where the individual employees are located. Presented below is a discussion of the Company’s labor liabilities in Mexico, which comprise the substantial majority of those recorded in the consolidated financial statements.

17.1 Assumptions

The Company annually evaluates the reasonableness of the assumptions used in its labor liability for post-employment and other non-current employee benefits computations.

Actuarial calculations for pension and retirement plans, seniority premiums and post-retirement medical benefits, as well as the associated cost for the period, were determined using the following long-term assumptions for Mexico:

Mexico	December 31, 2019			December 31, 2018			December 31, 2017
Financial:
Discount rate used to calculate the defined benefit obligation		7.50	%		9.40	%		7.60	%
Salary increase		4.50	%		4.60	%		4.50	%
Future pension increases		3.50	%		3.60	%		3.50	%
Healthcare cost increase rate		5.10	%		5.10	%		5.10	%
Biometric:
Mortality (1)		EMSSA 2009			EMSSA 2009			EMSSA 2009
Disability (2)		IMSS-97			IMSS-97			IMSS-97
Normal retirement age		60 years			60 years			60 years
Employee turnover table (3)		BMAR 2007			BMAR 2007			BMAR 2007

Measurement date December:

(1) EMSSA. Mexican Experience of social security.

(2) IMSS. Mexican Experience of Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social.

(3) BMAR. Actuary experience.

In Mexico, the methodology used to determine the discount rate was the Yield or Internal Rate of Return (IRR) which involves a yield curve. In this case, the expected rates of each period were taken from a yield curve of Mexican Federal Government Treasury Bonds (known as CETES in Mexico) because there is no deep market in high quality corporate obligations in Mexican pesos.

In Mexico upon retirement, the Company purchases an annuity for the employee, which will be paid according to the option chosen by the employee.

Based on these assumptions, the amounts of benefits expected to be paid out in the following years are as follows:

	Pension and Retirement Plans		Seniority Premiums		Post-Retirement Medical Services		Total
2020	Ps.	767	Ps.	129	Ps.	20	Ps.	916
2021		332		111		21		464
2022		340		107		22		469
2023		414		106		22		542
2024		405		107		23		535
2025 to 2029		3,192		594		124		3,910

17.2 Balances of the liabilities for employee benefits

	December 31, 2019			December 31, 2018
Pension and Retirement Plans:
Defined benefit obligation	Ps.	7,193		Ps.	6,189
Pension plan funds at fair value		(2,678	)		(2,501	)
Net defined benefit liability	Ps.	4,515		Ps.	3,688
Seniority Premiums:
Defined benefit obligation	Ps.	1,237		Ps.	772
Seniority premium plan funds at fair value		(127	)		(111	)
Net defined benefit liability	Ps.	1,110		Ps.	661
Postretirement Medical Services:
Defined benefit obligation	Ps.	797		Ps.	418
Medical services funds at fair value		(75	)		(68	)
Net defined benefit liability	Ps.	722		Ps.	350
Total Employee Benefits	Ps.	6,347		Ps.	4,699

17.3 Trust assets

Trust assets consist of fixed and variable return financial instruments recorded at fair value (Level 1), which are invested as follows:

	December 31, 2019			December 31, 2018
Fixed return:
Traded securities		9	%		19	%
Bank instruments		23	%		6	%
Federal government instruments of the respective countries		33	%		60	%
Variable return:
Publicly traded shares		35	%		15	%
		100	%		100	%

In Mexico, the regulatory framework for pension plans is established in the Income Tax Law and its Regulations, the Federal Labor Law and the Mexican Social Security Institute Law. None of these laws establish minimum funding levels or a minimum required level of contributions.

In Mexico, the Income Tax Law requires that, in the case of private plans, certain notifications must be submitted to the authorities and a certain level of instruments must be invested in Federal Government securities among others.

The Company’s various pension plans have a technical committee that is responsible for verifying the correct operation of the plan with regard to the payment of benefits, actuarial valuations of the plan, and supervise the trustee. The committee is responsible for determining the investment portfolio and the types of instruments the fund will be invested in. This technical committee is also responsible for reviewing the correct operation of the plans in all of the countries in which the Company has these benefits.

The risks related to the Company’s employee benefit plans are primarily attributable to the plan assets. The Company’s plan assets are invested in a diversified portfolio, which considers the term of the plan so as to invest in assets whose expected return coincides with the estimated future payments.

Since the Mexican Tax Law limits the plan asset investment to 10% for related parties, this risk is not considered to be significant for purposes of the Company’s Mexican subsidiaries.

In Mexico, the Company’s policy is to invest at least 30% of the fund assets in Mexican Federal Government instruments. Guidelines for the target portfolio have been established for the remaining percentage and investment decisions are made to comply with these guidelines insofar as the market conditions and available funds allow.

In Mexico, the amounts and types of securities of the Company in related parties included in portfolio fund are as follows:

	December 31, 2019		December 31, 2018
Debt:
El Puerto de Liverpool, S.A.B. de C.V.	Ps.	30	Ps.	30
Grupo Industrial Bimbo, S.A.B. de C. V.		31		27
BBVA Bancomer, S.A de C.V.		20		19
Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B. de C.V.		8		8
Grupo Financiero Scotiabank Inverlat, S.A. de C.V.		10		—
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. de C.V.		—		45
Gentera, S.A.B. de C.V.		—		4
Equity:
CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V.		12		3
Alfa, S.A.B. de C.V.		6		—
El Puerto de Liverpool, S.A.B. de C.V.		2		3
Others		3		—
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. de C.V.		—		1
Grupo Aeroportuario del Suereste, S.A.B. de C.V.		—		2

For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company did not make significant contributions to the plan assets and does not expect to make material contributions to the plan assets during the following fiscal year. There are no restrictions placed on the trustee’s ability to sell those securities. As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the plan assets did not include securities of the Company in portfolio funds.

17.4 Amounts recognized in the consolidated income statements and the consolidated statement of comprehensive income

	Income Statement										AOCI (1)
December 31, 2019	Current Service Cost		Past Service Cost			Gain or Loss on Settlement or Curtailment			Net Interest on the Net Defined Benefit Liability		Remeasurements of the Net Defined Benefit Liability
Pension and retirement plans	Ps.	279	Ps.	(45	)	Ps.	2		Ps.	290	Ps.	1,608
Seniority premiums		139		161			—			57		162
Postretirement medical services		15		—			—			32		396
Total	Ps.	433	Ps.	116		Ps.	2		Ps.	379	Ps.	2,166
December 31, 2018
Pension and retirement plans	Ps.	318	Ps.	—		Ps.	(5	)	Ps.	304	Ps.	668
Seniority premiums		125		—			(8	)		49		(63	)
Postretirement medical services		25		—			(1	)		34		41
Total	Ps.	468	Ps.	—		Ps.	(14	)	Ps.	387	Ps.	646
December 31, 2017	Current Service Cost		Past Service Cost			Gain or Loss on Settlement or Curtailment			Net Interest on the Net Defined Benefit Liability		Remeasurements of the Net Defined Benefit Liability
Pension and retirement plans	Ps.	244	Ps.	10		Ps.	(2	)	Ps.	248	Ps.	1,061
Seniority premiums		106		—			(1	)		41		46
Postretirement medical services		24		—			—			30		184
Total	Ps.	374	Ps.	10		Ps.	(3	)	Ps.	319	Ps.	1,291

(1) Amounts accumulated in other comprehensive income as of the end of the period.

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, labor costs of Ps.433, Ps.468 and Ps.374 have been included in the consolidated income statements under the allocation of costs of goods sold, administrative expenses and selling expenses.

Remeasurements of the net defined benefit liability recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income are as follows:

	December 31, 2019			December 31, 2018			December 31, 2017
Amount accumulated in other comprehensive income as of the beginning of the period, net of tax	Ps.	475		Ps.	892		Ps.	966
Actuarial (gains) arising from exchange rates		(30	)		(21	)		(2	)
Remeasurements during the year, net of tax		100			221			295
Actuarial losses and (gains) arising from changes in financial assumptions		1,071			(617	)		(367	)
Effect on settlement		8			—			—
Amount accumulated in other comprehensive income as of the end of the period, net of tax	Ps.	1,624		Ps.	475		Ps.	892

Remeasurements of the net defined benefit liability include the following:

• The return on plan assets, excluding amounts included in net interest expense.

• Actuarial gains and losses arising from changes in demographic assumptions.

• Actuarial gains and losses arising from changes in financial assumptions.

17.5 Changes in the balance of the defined benefit obligation for post-employment

	December 31, 2019			December 31, 2018			December 31, 2017
Pension and Retirement Plans:
Initial balance	Ps.	6,189		Ps.	7,370		Ps.	5,702
Current service cost		279			318			341
Past service (credit) cost		(45	)		—			10
Interest expense		530			484			491
Settlement / Curtailment		2			(5	)		(2	)
Remeasurements of the net defined benefit obligation		859			(740	)		263
Foreign exchange loss (gain)		(69	)		(86	)		(79	)
Benefits paid		(582	)		(450	)		(550	)
(Derecognition) acquisitions		30			(702	)		1,194
Ending balance	Ps.	7,193		Ps.	6,189		Ps.	7,370
Seniority Premiums:
Initial balance	Ps.	772		Ps.	783		Ps.	663
Current service cost		139			125			106
Past service cost		161			—			—
Interest expense		68			57			49
Settlement		—			(8	)		(1	)
Remeasurements of the net defined benefit obligation		230			(115	)		28
Benefits paid		(133	)		(77	)		(68	)
Acquisitions		—			7			6
Ending balance	Ps.	1,237		Ps.	772		Ps.	783
Postretirement Medical Services:
Initial balance	Ps.	418		Ps.	524		Ps.	460
Current service cost		15			25			24
Interest expense		38			39			34
Curtailment / Settlement		—			(1	)		—
Remeasurements of the net defined benefit obligation		356			(143	)		32
Benefits paid		(30	)		(26	)		(26	)
Ending balance	Ps.	797		Ps.	418		Ps.	524

17.6 Changes in the balance of plan assets

	December 31, 2019		December 31, 2018			December 31, 2017
Total Plan Assets:
Initial balance	Ps.	2,680	Ps.	3,304		Ps.	2,378
Actual return on trust assets		174		47			213
Foreign exchange loss (gain)		2		(1	)		86
Life annuities		24		35			65
Benefits paid		—		(1	)		(136	)
(Derecognition) acquisitions		—		(704	)		698
Ending balance	Ps.	2,880	Ps.	2,680		Ps.	3,304

As a result of the Company’s investments in life annuities plan, management does not expect it will need to make material contributions to plan assets in order to meet its future obligations.

17.7 Variation in assumptions

The Company decided that the relevant actuarial assumptions that are subject to sensitivity and valuated through the projected unit credit method, are the discount rate, the salary increase rate and healthcare cost increase rate. The reasons for choosing these assumptions are as follows:

• Discount rate: The rate that determines the value of the obligations over time.

• Salary increase rate: The rate that considers the salary increase which implies an increase in the benefit payable.

• Healthcare cost increase rate: The rate that considers the trends of health care costs which implies an impact on the postretirement medical service obligations and the cost for the year.

The following table presents the amount of defined benefit plan expense and OCI impact in absolute terms of a variation of 1% in the assumptions on the net defined benefit liability associated with the Company’s defined benefit plans. The sensitivity of this 1% on the significant actuarial assumptions is based on a projected long-term discount rates for Mexico and a yield curve projection of long-term Mexican government bonds—CETES:

+1%:	Income Statement						OCI (1)
Discount rate used to calculate the defined benefit obligation and the net interest on the net defined benefit liability	Current Service Cost		Gain or Loss on Settlement or Curtailment		Effect of Net Interest on the Net Defined Benefit Liability (Asset)		Remeasurements of the Net Defined Benefit Liability (Asset)
Pension and retirement plans	Ps.	180	Ps.	1	Ps.	237	Ps.	1,379
Seniority premiums		283		—		52		147
Postretirement medical services		6		—		29		335
Total	Ps.	469	Ps.	1	Ps.	318	Ps.	1,861
Expected salary increase
Pension and retirement plans	Ps.	205	Ps.	2	Ps.	329	Ps.	1,493
Seniority premiums		320		—		62		178
Total	Ps.	525	Ps.	2	Ps.	391	Ps.	1,671
Assumed rate of increase in healthcare costs
Postretirement medical services	Ps.	8	Ps.	—	Ps.	40	Ps.	431

+1%:
Discount rate used to calculate the defined benefit obligation and the net interest on the net defined benefit liability	Current Service Cost		Gain or Loss on Settlement or Curtailment		Effect of Net Interest on the Net Defined Benefit Liability (Asset)		Remeasurements of the Net Defined Benefit Liability (Asset)
Pension and retirement plans	Ps.	199	Ps.	2	Ps.	356	Ps.	1,528
Seniority premiums		317		—		63		1
Postretirement medical services		8		—		41		429
Total	Ps.	524	Ps.	2	Ps.	460	Ps.	1,958
Expected salary increase
Pension and retirement plans	Ps.	178	Ps.	1	Ps.	267	Ps.	1,408
Seniority premiums		281		—		53		147
Total	Ps.	459	Ps.	1	Ps.	320	Ps.	1,555
Assumed rate of increase in healthcare costs
Postretirement medical services	Ps.	6	Ps.	—	Ps.	30	Ps.	333

(1) Amounts accumulated in other comprehensive income as of the end of the period.

17.8 Employee benefits expense

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, employee benefits expenses recognized in the consolidated income statements as cost of goods sold, administrative and selling expenses are as follows:

	2019		2018		2017
Wages and salaries	Ps.	64,776	Ps.	58,745	Ps.	51,874
Social security costs		11,494		10,486		9,800
Employee profit sharing		1,205		1,294		1,209
Post-employment benefits		795		842		700
Share-based payments		200		405		351
Termination benefits		169		132		159
	Ps.	78,639	Ps.	71,904	Ps.	64,093