Shell is removing its network of pensioner liaison representatives with a view to changing to a more cost-effective approach to supporting retired members of the Shell Contributory Pension Fund.
While some trustee boards communicate with pensioner members only very occasionally, others engage with retired employees on a regular basis through newsletters, online and via specially made committees or networks of representatives.
The main objective of Shell's Pensioner Liaison Scheme is to maintain a link between pensioners and the company, and the representatives help with various problems and questions that can face retired employees and their dependants.
However, the company has said that this network of representatives, which works closely with the pensions administration team, will come to an end in 2017.
As the world changes… you need to re-examine what your communications goals are and what you’re trying to achieve
David Millar, JLT Employee Benefits
According to the scheme, which has around 5,110 pensioner members, “this is a significant change” and the trustee board of the SCPF “was consulted before the company reached this decision”.
The company “intends to modernise the support which it provides to pensioners in the UK”, said a Shell spokesperson. "This follows a recent review which examined the overall support for pensioners in the local market.”
Continuing to support pensioners
The trustee said that it recognises "the necessity for the company to move to a more consistent and cost-effective approach to supporting the pensioner population".
Shell will continue to support pensioners in the UK through the existing Shell Pensioners Association and Shell Pensioners Benevolence Association.
The spokesperson praised the “valuable work of the pensioner liaison representatives who have ensured that the strong link between Shell and its retired employees has continued to develop in recent years”.
Steve Delo, chief executive of Pan Governance at independent trustee company Pan Trustees, said that engaging with pensioners on a regular basis is often a "corporate driven decision", depending on whether the business has an adequate budget.
When engaging with former employees, the company may provide a support network for pensioners and “create some sort of paternalistic link back to the employer”, Delo noted.
He said this “can be quite a good thing from a human point of view”, but added: “You've also got to bear in mind the way that people are working is now changed.”
Fragmented career paths
Historically, people might have worked for the same employer for the majority of their working lives and then retired from them, whereas nowadays many could end up with pensions from a number of different employers.
Consequently, employees “don’t really have the loyalty to the past employer, or perhaps the interest in what the past employer is doing”, Delo suggested. “So I think the fragmentation of career behaviour starts to pull against doing this sort of thing."
Industry specific
David Millar, head of client communications at consultancy JLT Employee Benefits, agreed that career paths are more fragmented than they were in the past.
“It depends a great deal though on the industry,” he said, as well as the geography, with regard to the company.
For example, an employee of a large engineering company in the north east could make far fewer career changes than someone working in a fast-moving consumer goods industry in London.
Millar said: “As the world changes… you need to re-examine what your communications goals are and what you’re trying to achieve" – keeping in touch with pensioners being a case in point.
Brigade of silver surfers
Providing communication via a website or social media can be an effective way of keeping pensioners up-to-date, said Millar.
Shell becomes latest scheme to push electronic comms
The Shell Contributory Pension Fund has begun requesting email addresses from members as it takes the first step towards electronic communication, the latest in a long line of schemes to do so.
He disregarded the “stereotypical view that things like apps and Twitter and Facebook are [just] for young people”, saying that the newly retired “brigade of silver surfers” tend to be time-rich, tech-savvy and “keen to engage with relevant content”.
David Brooks, technical director at consultancy Broadstone, said that sometimes it can be "a bit daunting" for pensioners when their circumstances or contact details change and they wish to notify the trustees, but have not been in touch with the company or the scheme for many years since retirement.
That is why writing to people regularly and being available to them when they need information is important, he explained, adding: “It doesn’t cost a lot to be helpful.”
