4 ways to better engage with your employees about retirement
1. Consider how your employees work
One type of communication might be effective for some employees but ineffective for others.
Just as no two companies are the same, in many cases, workplaces within a company can be different, too.
Take a large supermarket chain, for example. A video could be highly effective in engaging over-50s at its head office about retirement options.
However, this type of communication may be far less successful in stores, where employees are on their feet all day and rarely have access to screens. For these employees, an eye-catching poster in the break room could be far more engaging.
The important point here is different things work for different workplaces. When it comes to capturing employee attention about retirement, don’t be afraid to try different types of communication, especially in combination. A multi-pronged approach is almost always more effective.
2. Put the person back in
It can be easy to think of retirement communication as just messages. But it’s important for to use your most effective communicators: people.
If you want to really engage with your employees about their pensions and retirement, consider appointing a pension ‘champion’ for them to talk to.
Talking to a person can be more accessible for employees, making it a good first step in helping them think about their retirement goals and how to reach them.
Research shows that colleagues make great champions, so there’s no need to appoint anyone new.
Your champion doesn’t need to be a pensions expert either, just someone approachable, interested and able to guide colleagues to the right resources to better understand their pension.
3. Use emotions, not finances
It can be difficult for employees to think about retirement or engage with their pension. This is because, for many employees, retirement can feel far away. It can also be hard for them to imagine how much money they’ll need. Bringing emotions (both positive and negative) into your messages about retirement can help employees engage.
For example, writing ‘Have you thought about your retirement?’ on a poster won’t be as effective as an image of a child saying: ’Have you thought about your retirement, mum?’
Including family emotions in communications can cause employees to stop and think. This message can also help engage employees who put little thought into their retirement because they don’t seem themselves having one. It’s a reminder that, in the worst case, your savings can look after family members.
But we can use more positive emotions to encourage employees to plan for their retirement, too. Use strong visuals (but avoiding the older people cliches) to stimulate thoughts about what your lifestyle after work could be and actions to achieve it.
4. Nudge early, at the right time
For employees many years from retirement, their pension and retirement plans are often low priority. But the earlier an employee’s retirement planning starts, the more they’ll get out of their benefits when they access them.
It can be productive to use your communications to ‘nudge’ employees to think about their retirement. But one annual nudge for all employees at the same time isn’t enough.
Instead, try using employee data to give targeted nudges at the times when they’re more likely to act.
A nudge about increasing pension contributions on their birthday is one way to get employees to engage, but it’s not the only time you can nudge.
Again, bringing the family aspect in, nudges for employees to consider financial planning after they’ve had a child can also work.
Finally, some employers ask employees ahead of time to think about increasing their pension contributions when their next pay rise takes effect - they won’t miss money they aren’t used to having.
There are many ways to better engage with your employees about retirement. The four highlighted here are tried and tested, but don’t be afraid to experiment and find which approach (or combination) works best for your staff.
In partnership with Vidett
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