EXCLUSIVE: Bookatable.com has seen no eligible employees opt out of its group personal pension (GPP) since they were auto-enrolled.
Prior to its staging date on 1 July, 45 of the online restaurant reservation organisation’s 130 employees were members of its pension scheme.
All eligible staff are now in the scheme, which is provided by Scottish Widows.
Juliet Roberts, head of HR at Bookatable.com, said: “The pension has always been available to employees, but with the auto-enrolment [legislation], it has become a much more important part of the process.
“Employees have had to be educated on why auto-enrolment is happening and what it means to them.”
Bookatable.com has adjusted its pension contribution levels as it complies with the legislation.
Prior to auto-enrolment, the organisation matched employee contributions up to 5%. Now it will match contributions up to 3%. All employees have to contribute at least 3% into the pension scheme.
Roberts added: “Our benefits are a points-based system, so when employees passed their probation period, prior to auto-enrolment, they were allocated 100 points and then they had a suite of benefits that they could use them on.
“This included benefits such as the pension, life assurance, critical illness and private medical insurance.”
Bookatable.com started planning for auto-enrolment in July 2013, when Roberts attended a seminar by The Pensions Regulator.
The first communication to employees was a letter included with payslips, which explained what auto-enrolment meant for employees. In June 2014, the organisation hosted seminars for staff.
“It was a case of rounding up people, sitting them down and making the presentations as quick and informative as possible to keep their attention,” said Roberts.
Bookatable.com is currently in the process of compiling a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document with Scottish Widows.
Roberts added: “There were some questions that came up, mainly because we have a pretty international workforce.
“If we have employees from [another] European country who are taking out a pension here, they need to understand what the transportability of the pension is.
“For example, we had an employee who was based in the UK, but has moved back to Germany. She has to understand what she can do with a pension that is based in the UK.”
