Oracle has boosted take-up of its group personal pension (GPP) plan after a communications campaign.
The IT firm, which brought in the GPP last year to replace a trust-based defined contribution (DC) scheme after consolidating several legacy pension schemes from acquired organisations, has seen membership of the GPP rise from 77% to 87%.
Oracle communicated its pension arrangements to 3,200 eligible employees by holding 123 group presentations across nine locations. Areas covered by the presentations, provided by Secondsight, included how the GPP works, pensions tax relief, salary sacrifice and investment choices. A 16-minute online pension video was also available to staff.
Vance Kearney, vice-president for HR, Europe Middle East and Africa at Oracle, said: “Having a pension in place without any form of proactive face-to-face education is a waste of time. Without it, an employer may as well not bother to offer one. How can we expect staff to know what they have to save to get the retirement they want without guidance?”
Mike Dunlop, senior HR director at Oracle, added: “The breakthrough in communication was the wider understanding of what pensions are about.”
Following Oracle’s campaign, more members are contributing part of their flex fund to their pension and more are taking charge of their own risk profile, with 74% selecting a fund from three options: cautious, balanced and adventurous. Previously, most members stayed in the default fund.
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