EasyJet pilots engagement strategy for DC members

The multi-phase update combines social media platforms and the creation of hashtags with more traditional forms of engagement, such as face-to-face contact and newsletters.

Pension schemes are increasingly embracing technology as an engagement tool, particularly when grappling with a diverse and mobile membership. Research conducted by Deloitte in 2017 found that 85 per cent of respondents now own or have access to a smartphone and more than half of 16 to 75-year-olds in the UK use their smartphones while walking.

EasyJet has now completed the first phase of its communications overhaul, focused on training managers, and now hopes to engage its entire membership.

Many EasyJet employees have non-traditional working hours and patterns, with staff spending a lot of time in the air, rather than in an open plan office with access to a desktop computer.

Mario Yiannopoulos, head of reward at EasyJet, said: “By far the majority of our employees are pilots and cabin crew and their workplace is the plane they are flying on.”

Given that there is limited opportunity for face-to-face communications, the company has adapted its approach to cater for these communities, he said.

This involved delivering a strategy that is “based on conversation – giving our people good quality information, that’s easy to access, whilst providing plenty of opportunities for questions; discussion and ideas sharing”.

Generating conversation

EasyJet wanted to ensure its communications campaign was “clear but engaging”, particularly regarding upcoming auto-enrolment contribution increases. In April, minimum contribution rates increased for employers and employees. They are due to increase again in April 2019.

The move follows similar efforts to limit opt outs and encourage saving by companies like Intercontinental Hotels Group, which in 2017 began a multi-pronged communications exercise to prepare members for an early increase in its default pension contributions to 2019 minimum levels.

In practice, the mobile nature of EasyJet’s workforce means the new strategy is reliant on digital communications, which are accessible no matter where staff are working.

“We’ve put together this dedicated pensions website… that all employees can access on mobile devices or their laptops,” said Anna Carter, the company’s compensation and benefits specialist.

Using the internal social media platform is also designed to make things easier for members, because it is easily accessible on their phones, she added.

This is in addition to regular newsletters, and a roadshow of visits to some of EasyJet’s bases in the UK, with drop-in sessions for some members.

The strategy focused on providing managers with the tools to “have a good conversation with their teams about the changes to workplace pension contributions”, said Yiannopoulos. “We used our in-house social media platform to generate conversation, to remind people of the benefits and offers that we have,” he said.

While the campaign “was driven by the auto-enrolment changes” it is also designed to increase awareness and understanding of pensions in general, according to Carter.

Funding a future life

As part of the campaign, a hashtag was used to catch employees’ attention and make it memorable. “We had a strong creative concept that pulled it all together called #moneysavingmoments,” Yiannopoulos said.

He said: “Our campaign was based on inspiring people to think about their future self – encouraging them to visualise themselves at retirement and the type of lifestyle they’d want at that time of their life.”

For example, employees were asked whether they would like to able to afford a couple of holidays a year during retirement.

Through the creation of imaginary “internal characters” named Ellena and Ed, the company mapped potential outcomes for members, linking what they save now to the kind of lifestyle it could buy them in the future, and explaining what the new minimum total contributions could help them achieve.

Feedback helps shape future comms strategy

With the internal communications team working alongside employee representatives and its pension providers, EasyJet focused on building a campaign around three key phases.

The first one involved informing managers about the upcoming pension changes. It kicked off in early March, according to Carter.

The second phase will be about “engaging with our wider audience on the changes”, and the third involves putting in place a strong plan to encourage good financial planning, according to Yiannopoulos.

The airline is now evaluating the effectiveness of the first campaign. This includes a quick poll and survey, as well as qualitative feedback received via employee representatives, queries from the HR help desk, and comments on the social media platform.

“This will help us shape the next phase of the campaign and ensure that our engagement strategy works for our employees,” said Yiannopolous.

As part of the employee feedback process, the company will be able to find out what type of communication members prefer.

Industry experts highlighted the importance of this feedback.

Trevor Rutter, a senior consultant at communications specialist Like Minds, noted that generally “no one solution is going to work across the board for different companies”. For example, employee needs in an airline workplace environment may differ from staff working in a retail environment on the shop floor, or those in an office.

“The starting point should be to ask the members… what works for them, and actually get feedback,” he added.

Pensions are not the sole focus

EasyJet’s campaign will also seek to improve financial literacy among its staff.

In March 2017, the Financial Advice Working Group produced a report for HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority on financial wellbeing in the workplace.

It said many employees are struggling with their finances; facing increasing personal debt and a limited ability to save for the future.

“Financial literacy is really important – financial worries are a cause of other health issues and as a responsible employer we want to ensure that our employees are saving for their future while also being financially savvy,” said Yiannopoulos.

As part of the pensions campaign, the company is promoting the various voluntary benefits it has on offer where employees can make savings.

“We want employees to get a conversation going and share their #moneysavingmoments so we help each other as a community,” he said.

A human touch

As technology changes, new and different solutions for engaging with members will become available. However, while technology can be incredibly useful and effective, it is not always a replacement for human interaction.

Rutter said there will always be a role for managers and supervisors to communicate face-to-face, and recommended that schemes do not “lose sight of that human touch”.

Vassos Vassou, senior trustee representative at Dalriada Trustees, said that there are several ways that trustees and companies can tailor communications to their members.

One is to do what easyJet has done, and consider the members’ working patterns and lifestyles. Vassou said that “the kind of thing that they have done, I suspect will happen more and more” as companies become increasingly open to flexible working – allowing employees to work from home or in different locations.

Vassou noted that another way in which an engagement strategy can be tailored, is to focus on the language and style of the communications. For example, a younger workforce may respond well to technology and social media.

It is also important “to think about their financial sophistication”, Vassou said. Members who are employees at a bank, for example, may be more familiar with pensions terminology than staff working in other industries.