Auto-enrollment pensions should be phased in over between two and five years, according to business group ISME.
The Cabinet will be updated on Tuesday on plans for the State and employers to contribute towards employee pensions.
Auto-enrollment was initially meant to start this year before the pandemic put it on the long finger.
In its most simple form, the scheme would mean employees being automatically entered into a pension scheme - with employers and the State also having to pay into it.
It is designed in a bid to head off the coming pensions timebomb.
With people living longer they will be drawing the State pension for a longer time, and with birth rates falling there will be far fewer working people paying taxes to support the retired.
The move will have a big impact on businesses. ISME CEO Neil McDonnell says they need a lead-in time.
"I would have thought two to three years at a minimum - potentially as long as five years - to get to the full 6%"
The Cabinet will be updated on plans by Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys on Tuesday.
Keenly watched will be how much the State is going to contribute, potentially as much as €1 for every €3 an employee saves, in what is being billed as an SSIA scheme for pensions.
