Case study: How employee-led support targets every age and stage at Utility Warehouse

We’re building from the ground up by getting feedback from employees about financial wellbeing needs, then developing our approach based on their feedback. We use our employee engagement survey and insights from our providers to understand our employees’ needs.

The fragility of financial situations has been brought to the fore by recent economic volatility, and this has increased employees’ expectations. A big challenge for us is accommodating all our employees’ financial wellbeing needs, regardless of their income level and life stage. Another is bridging the gap of understanding challenges across our workforce for employees in varying financial situations.

Pensions are always a big discussion area. It’s harder to know when employees are planning to retire now. They often want to continue working in some capacity, and the choices available have perhaps complicated reward professionals’ views. Forecasting has become much more challenging. Younger generations appear to want other savings vehicles in the short to medium term, perhaps to save for a house deposit, or because they don’t consider contributing to a pension a priority. But they often still want the employer contributions they would receive if they were contributing to the employee pension scheme. 

There seems to be greater expectation from younger generations for employers to support them with their wider financial literacy, helping them to understand good versus bad debt; not just pensions. This is a challenge for the pensions sector, and for us as reward professionals.