How to tailor comms to changing work patterns

More than that, to a paternalistic organisation (and many were), it was a way to ensure that workers had a reasonable standard of living in retirement – and were, in fact, able to leave in a timely manner, freeing up other opportunities for younger workers.

We should be looking more to the advertising industry and taking a campaign-based approach to communications

Of course, the idealistic pension arrangements of yesteryear were targeted primarily at those with a ‘full-time job for life’. We could be relaxed about our communications to members, because the outcome would speak for itself. Workers could be reasonably sure that trustees of the pension scheme would ensure them the best retirement outcome possible.

But today’s workers do not always fit into that ‘full-time job for life’ model. There is often a gender divide – women with caring responsibilities, choosing to take career breaks or work part-time, and younger people entering the workforce with no notion of long-term service.

The gig economy is on the rise, and, increasingly, as the state pension is pushed out, people are choosing to work for longer, often to wind down to retirement.

As workers’ needs are now increasingly varied, pensions have changed enormously. Responsibility has largely passed from the trustee to the individual to manage an array of pension arrangements, all maturing at different times.

Other than changing technologies, how far have trustees adapted how they communicate in line with these changes? What is the ‘holy grail’ of pension communication in our modern world?

Personalisation is key

Because each individual’s circumstances are likely to be so different, perhaps we should look again at the (potentially endangered) pensions dashboard concept.

The idea that your pensions follow you throughout your career, showing you all of your retirement income in one place is helpful both to younger generations, who are expected to have dozens of jobs, and to those working part-time at various points in their career.

Given that trustees can only control what happens in their individual schemes, they too should be mindful of prompting members to include pensions from all sources in their thinking. This should therefore be taken into account when developing scheme-specific technological solutions.

Grab peoples’ attention (and keep it)

Those of us who work in pensions should not forget that most members do not think about retirement income until later – at which point often there is little that can be done.

In this ‘new world’ they need to engage with it sooner rather than later, so it falls on us to catch their attention. We should be looking more to the advertising industry and taking a campaign-based approach to communications.

Material should be targeted, leveraging the rich data we hold on individuals to make sure each message received is relevant to them. Responses should also be monitored and measured to determine effectiveness.

Talk about saving, not retirement

The first educational bridge to be crossed for many younger members is more about saving in general than retirement saving.

Once you have saved for that first car or home and you start to see the benefits of saving, this can be applied elsewhere.

The same goes for those spending periods of time outside the workplace – encouraging them to save more to make up for missed savings. An evolving programme of communications is needed to connect with members at key stages of their life and savings journey.

Karen Partridge is head of client services, UK and Australia, at communications specialist AHC