EXCLUSIVE: Nails Inc has seen 1% of its auto-enrolled employees opt out of its new group personal pension (GPP) plan since its staging date in January 2014.
The nail bar chain has 60 outlets across the UK and employs around 370 employees, 160 of whom are eligible for auto-enrolment.
The GPP, which is provided by Scottish Widows, is the organisation’s first ever pension scheme.
Purdey Wildey, financial controller at Nails Inc, said: “Because it was our first pension scheme we wanted to make it a tangible benefit for staff instead of something that they had to opt in to, because then I believe employees would have started opting out. We did not want to just tick the boxes to comply.”
The GPP has an annual management charge of 0.5%, and contributions are set at 1% employee and 1% employer.
“We will increase contributions as legislation changes, but I think the [1% and 1% contributions] help employees get started and stay in the scheme,” added Wildey.
Nails Inc was advised by Creative Auto Enrolment, which helped the organisation select its pension scheme and helped with the administration process.
Wildey added: “The administration work was taken away and we have not had many problems or worries from staff because, during the run-up to auto-enrolment, it was handled with care.”
Communications were set out to staff via email and post, highlighting the low annual management charge and the contributions levels.