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10 Jul 2019
by Moira Throp

Ditching the word ‘pension’ and re-branding increases engagement at Morgan Sindall

We (like minds) recently worked with Morgan Sindall, the construction and regeneration group, to help re-engage members with their pension scheme and change the way they think about saving for the future.

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Our first step towards making their pension feel relevant, interesting and connected to their current lives, was to create a bold and eye-catching brand which would instantly change employees’ perceptions of what to expect from their pension.  We felt it was important to talk about this as another way of saving for your future, rather than labelling it with traditional words like pension or benefit and after discussions with the Trustees agreed to rename it as the Retirement Savings Plan (rather than the Retirement Benefits Plan).

Communicating
The new communication strategy agreed with the Trustees centres around a new website re-structured and re-written to take members on a savings journey. In this way we ensure that members can easily find the information most relevant to them – rather than being overwhelmed by too much all at once. We have structured the website under four key areas of the member journey:

  • Save – for those who need to focus on their contributions at the start of their membership
  • Grow – focusing on the choice of investments
  • Plan – supporting those who are starting to think about what they want from retirement
  • Spend – for those needing to understand more about their options at retirement

Each page includes easy click-throughs to supporting information ranging from savings tax-efficiency and how much to pay in, to investment choices and budget planning. Members also have log in access to a retirement modeller where their savings details are securely held, and where they can monitor progress towards their savings goal. 

In the first month of its launch, 40,000 pages were viewed on the new website, which has replaced the content previously delivered in scheme booklets. Of those, 1,000 visits were made by members reviewing their investment choices. Additionally, there was nearly a 5 per cent increase in members registering to access the secure admin site. Since then, there has been a steady stream of visitors to the site.

Statements
Annual benefit statements have since been re-written and re-designed to fit with the new approach, including how near members’ current savings are to their future goals – ensuring they know how to address any shortfall if needed. There was a spike in website activity during the week that the statements arrived with more members looking to change contributions and investments.

Clare Sheridan at Morgan Sindall Group says: “The change of language from making pension contributions to saving for the future has been a really effective move. We knew that the mere term ‘pension’ can be a turn-off, so the subtle shift to language around retirement saving has helped engage members more in planning how much money to put aside and how to invest it.”

“We’re in a different ball game now. We’ve shifted the focus from a company benefit that people felt had little relevance for them, to something much more meaningful and empowering. Feedback from members has been really positive.”

The website continues to be developed with the addition of video and more detailed information for those at the point of retirement and plans to potentially introduce personalised video statements next year.

The author is Moira Throp is a Co-founder and Director at employee engagement specialists, like minds.

This article is provided by Hymans Robertson. 

In partnership with Hymans Robertson

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