It has informed staff about the changes following the closure of its defined benefit (DB) scheme in 2012 and the introduction of a group personal pension plan .
The employer has also launched an online retirement planning tool, provided by Aspire to Retire, which is available to employees who are five years from their default retirement age.
Daphne Lucas-Lee, UK associate director, compensation and benefits at Bristol Myers Squibb, says: “When we opened the DC [defined contribution] scheme, we had a number of concerns from employees that they did not know enough about pensions.
“We have done a lot of education to improve this and, as a result, have started to inform employees about the coming changes to DC schemes.”
The scheme gives staff information about the importance of saving, access to information about their retirement options , interactive tools specific to their pension scheme and telephone access to consultants.
The organisation aims to engage employees with their pensions and offer advice and guidance that goes beyond the government’s guidance guarantee.
Lucas-Lee adds: “As employees near retirement, a number of decisions will need to be made. It is important that we give advice and guidance to employees so they understand the options available to them, especially after next year.
“We wanted to prepare them adequately for the changes. The tools and what we do is about keeping them engaged.
“We have made sure our communications are timely and understandable because pension legislation is complex. We do not want employees to be caught further down the line not realising about the decisions they make because advice was not given.”
