North East Firms recognise employees need more financial education post pension freedoms
Over 50 leading human resources and finance professionals attended the event hosted by Alan Fergusson, employee benefits director at Mattioli Woods which identified a number of concerns from attendees.
Alan Fergusson said, “We recognise the challenges the energy sector is facing and we were able to provide valuable insight into how the right employee benefits can support those challenges”.
It was clear that the attendees have already taken steps to engage their staff:
- 44% offering a structured flexible benefits plan.
- 65% providing some form of voluntary benefits to their employees.
- 53% of respondents are regularly communicating with their employees.
Fergusson advises, “This points to quite high levels of flex and voluntary benefits already being offered by employers, but the question is whether or not employees are actually engaging in the schemes. Are their schemes helping to recruit, retain and motivate employees?”
New pensions rules were also high on the agenda with employers keen to discuss the need for more financial education for their employees at all levels.
- 32% of the audience are currently providing financial education to their employees.
- 88% agreed that the new pensions freedoms increased the need for financial education in the workplace.
Alan added, “We are providing more support to our clients in the area of financial education than ever before. The new pensions freedoms have seen us being brought in earlier and more frequently to advise employees planning for retirement with employers finding this an ideal way to engage with their staff. New lifetime allowance and annual allowance rules mean that employers must be careful as complications can arise with their high earners. Benefits and taxation mean that decisions often have to be made at employer as well as employee level for this group.”
The event was highly rated by attendees and Mattioli Woods are holding similar events across the UK.
Mattioli Woods has developed Create, an employee portal providing online access to total reward and flexible benefits. For SME businesses, the company has launched “Flexi” meaning smaller businesses can enjoy the same flexible and voluntary options as large organisations in a cost effective way.
This article was taken from a Mattioli Woods press release - 9 November 2015.
