New Delhi, Oct. 4 -- Many employees withdraw their provident fund balance after switching jobs and assume there is nothing else left to transfer, leaving the old account behind. However, their Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) service is tracked separately, and failing to carry forward this service history when changing jobs could affect the pension benefits they may be entitled to later.

EPF and EPS are part of the same social security framework, but they serve different purposes. While EPF helps build a retirement corpus through contributions and interest and can also provide financial support during certain emergencies, EPS primarily tracks an employee's eligible pensionable service.

Generally, a longer eligible service period can resu...