Pensions insight
in the three years before he approaches retirement. He’s likely to hit the ‘delete’ button immediately. This 32-year-old employee might be earning quite well but spends all his money on a lavish lifestyle. Or, alternatively, he might still be towards the bottom of the pay scale, but scrupulously puts money employers shouldn’t send the same workplace savings comms to the entire workforce or make presumptions about age. Just because people are the same age, doesn’t mean they share the same financial means and priorities. Age is not necessarily the best way to segment staff. Employees fall into different brackets demographically and financially, and they will have different attitudes to savings and to money, too. The financial messages that ‘speak’ to one group may be completely irrelevant to another. Divide staff into several groups, so that each one can be sent communications that will resonate with them. The more targeted the campaign, the more effective it will be. away each month for his future. These scenarios highlight why 3: Time the communication correctly Plan for messages to be delivered when they’re most likely to capture employees’ attention. With retailers, for example, there’s no point sending staff important pensions information in the run-up to Black Friday when everyone will be busy and distracted. On the other hand, human resources (HR) might consider running a pension campaign to coincide with a general pay rise. Everyone will be thinking about the money in their pocket, anyway. Our research found that people are most open to communications around workplace savings when starting a job (56%) or leaving a job (76%), and when they are talking about changes to their remuneration (60%) or benefits (72%). Make sure you roll out campaigns at these junctures, when staff are most receptive. Plan to communicate often. One-off campaigns won’t be enough to change employees’ behaviour long-term. Drum-in messages with ongoing comms too. 4: Form the key messages By this stage, HR should know what they want employees to do and have already divided them into different groups, which
share certain characteristics, like distance to retirement or career stage. It’s now time to connect the dots. What is your business going to say? What key messages are you going to convey? What arguments can be made to each group, to persuade them to act? What questions will they need answered? What objections need addressing? These messages are the heart of the campaign. Express them simply, keeping jargon to a minimum, to get the audience’s attention. ...don’t discount more traditional mediums such as print and face-to- face meetings It’s tempting to scare employees into saving more, telling them about the negative consequences they face if they don’t save more. But messages that use scare tactics have become so common that people have started to tune them out. Just 38% of people we surveyed said they would respond to scare tactics, and even fewer (32%) said they would respond to guilt tactics about not saving. Try some positive messages, instead. Help people imagine a retirement they’ll love, where they have time to enjoy the hobbies they have now. 5: Pick the channels Focus on channels and media staff use regularly. There’s no point sending out emails about how to plan for retirement to staff based on an oil rig, with no Internet access. On the other hand, if employers know their employees are glued to their phones, they’ll want to utilise texts. Whilst digital is all the rage, don’t discount more traditional media such as print and face-to-face meetings. But remember it’s not about the way the business likes communicating – it’s about how staff like receiving information. If unsure ask them. Also, think about reaching employees at home – 72% of people like making decisions about their pensions and other finances in the evenings or weekends, away from the office. Over 20% even did their financial housekeeping on their commute.
Send letters to their home address, consider whether personal email addresses can be used and ensure that any material posted about workplace savings on the Intranet is accessible from home as well. 6: Perfect the design Everyone wants their comms to look sleek and professional, but if that’s all the design does, it’s missing a trick. Good design can provoke emotions and that’s what’s needed to change people’s savings behaviour. Logic is not enough. Stay away from standard stock photos. Find graphics which provoke strong reactions. Make readers laugh, excite them, get them thinking about the kind of life they want to lead. Some 63% of people told us they want to see pictures that reflect their life right now, rather than pictures of what their retirement might be like, decades ahead. Today’s reality will always provoke stronger emotions than theoretical events tomorrow. The colours used will influence their emotions, too. A good designer will make sure that the design reinforces the key messages. 7: Measure success Measure the success of any campaign. Go back and look at the original objectives again. Did the campaign fulfil them? Which part of the campaign has under-performed and what worked well? Analyse the campaign’s performance and feedback the lessons into the next set of comms, to see continuous improvement. The seven-step model is a circle, not a straight line, so as soon as one campaign is finished go back to step 1 and start the process again. Remember, digital campaigns provide lots of data about how well comms performed, so monitor the stats in real-time. Ask people what they think too – 86% of employees believe employers should seek feedback on their workplace savings communications, so survey staff regularly to find out how they rate comms. n Follow the full process outlined in the seven steps above and any organisation can develop a successful comms strategy around pensions and financial wellbeing and change savings behaviour for the better.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 51 | June 2019
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