Employee engagement is vital for an organisation’s success and one critical aspect that requires particular attention is pension participation. For most employers, the pension is one of their biggest costs but also a benefit that is the hardest to engage staff.
Encouraging employees to actively engage with their pensions not only ensures their financial security in retirement, but also demonstrates the company’s commitment to their wellbeing.
In this article, we will explore the most effective way to improve employee engagement in relation to pensions – education and communication.
Utilising various channels such as emails and intranet portals can help communicate relevant pension related information and updates. However, the challenge facing employers with the volume of email traffic - especially in the post Covid era - is that important information and updates can get lost in the midst of those.
Effective communication is the cornerstone of improving pension engagement. Many employees do not fully understand the significance of pensions or how they can benefit from them. Offering clear and concise information about the company’s pension scheme is essential. This could include companywide presentations/webinars provided by financial education experts helping to spread a wider message to employees or regular one-to-one meetings conducted by employee engagement experts to answer an individual employees’ questions and provide guidance on pension planning.
According to Aviva’s recent Working Lives Report 20231, almost four in five (79%) employees would like more support from their employer about planning for a financially comfortable retirement. Of those, more than two in five (41%) would like more information on how to build up a pension pot, and 45% would like more information on making a pension last throughout retirement. One in five (20%) said their employer provides enough support already while two in five (20%) employers said they only provide the minimum retirement planning information which is required.
Where employers can include financial education into their budgets, they will see the benefit of improved employee engagement, evidenced by employees proactively making changes to their pensions such as increases in contribution levels or amending where their funds are being invested rather than remaining in the standard default fund; an aspect many are unaware they have control over.
If you would like to know more about how Mattioli Woods can help improve your employees’ engagement with your largest benefit spend of pensions and financial planning, please get in touch.
All content correct at time of writing.
