Manchester Airport Group has achieved strong employee engagement with pensions by providing support and information to employees when making pension choices.
Speaking in a session on ’The employer’s role in helping staff to save for the future’, at Employee Benefits Live 2014 on 25 September, Mark Cliff, reward director at Manchester Airport Group, said that younger people, in particular, need education on the value and benefits of a pension and how schemes are structured.
“Of 850 active Manchester Airport employees, 450 signed up to our pension scheme” said Cliff.
He added that employers need to engage people with pensions in a relaxed and simple manner, for example, by using informal environments or one-to-one meetings.
Although he also described it as a “logistical nightmare”, because Cliff and his team communicated the benefits of the scheme effectively, they achieved a high success rate.
”People are beginning to get their heads around auto-enrolment,” said Cliff. ”It’s a chance to engage people into pensions like we’ve never done before.”
Of the 400 pension applications Manchester Airport Group received, 370 requested to take up the higher employee contribution levels available.
“Talking to your people about what it all means will drive them to higher engagement” said Cliff.