Since 2017, nuclear security technologies organisation AWE has worked to help its more than 7,000 employees on a journey towards embedding a whole-life savings approach.
Working with Nudge, the employer's approach encompasses offering a range of financial education and planning tools around retirement, budgeting, and investment, and tools such as mortgage calculators, all designed to help improve people’s financial confidence and outcomes.
Alongside this, over the past two years the organisation has embedded a specific focus on encouraging pensions’ awareness, and saving, among new hires.
Alison Dodd, employee benefits manager at AWE, explains: “There is no point having fantastic communication and engagement around retirement options at the end of the process if, fundamentally, the individual just doesn’t have enough money in their pot.”
Before a person even joins AWE, they can see the details of the pension scheme and its benefits on its website. “We have trained our recruiters so that they understand the pension, so when they are having conversations with individuals they are able to answer any questions,” Dodd outlines.
Those same recruiters see people through the onboarding phase and so, again, can reinforce the value of the pension as part of the package, through for instance an example total reward statement, Dodd adds.
“When people get their contract, the pension details are separately annexed to the contract rather than just lost within it," she says. "Because the pension information is separate, it’s easier for our future employees to read and look at it.
“When they join, employees have a formal 1.5-day induction programme. At the very end, they have a session on pension, pay, recognition and wellbeing. Then, in their first 100 days, we proactively invite them to one of our pension lunch-and-learn webinars. These are available to all employees but for our new hires they are directly invited to attend, as part of their extended induction.”
AWE runs similar activity focused on apprentice, undergraduate and graduate new hires.
The result has been that, in the year to March 2023, 34% of new hires changed their pension contributions, with 65% opting to put in the maximum. In same period to March this year, the figures were 45% and 75% respectively, showing the positive impact the initiative has already had.
“It is about getting employees interested in thinking about putting more into their pension at the earliest stage of employment because, whatever they choose to put in in those first few months or years of employment, inevitably inertia will then keep them where they are," Dodds says. "So, if we can get them before that inertia kicks in, that is good,”.
