DWP develop website in partnership with CIPD to help employers

DWP develop website in partnership with CIPD to help employers understand and communicate pensions effectively

Staff will not fully value and appreciate the benefit of their occupational pension scheme unless employers communicate the scheme effectively, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). A new Pensions at Work website developed by the DWP, in partnership with the CIPD and other organisations, offers employers information on pensions. It promotes good practice in employer pension provision and uses case studies to demonstrate how small, medium and large organisations can communicate pension schemes effectively to benefit the business.

Charles Cotton, CIPD Reward Adviser, says, Pensions can cost employers a lot of money - but they can also be a huge investment for the business. As people become more worried about the future of retirement, the pension offered by an employer could become more of a deciding factor for potential employees. But far too many employers with excellent pension arrangements are hiding their lights under a bushel.

Organisations have different challenges to face around their workforce demographics and available budgets. There is no single great pension scheme or one way to communicate. Employers should think about the bigger total reward picture and select a pension scheme that meets the needs of the business. They also need to think about the procedure and the way that they communicate the pension scheme to their staff, making sure they invest enough time and money to select a communication medium suitable for their staff such as email, posters and presentations, and ensure employees are able to understand this information. This can help turn pension costs into a huge investment for the business.

Communication is a real problem and CIPDís research found very few employers keep staff informed about their pension arrangements on an on-going basis. CIPDís report, Pensions and Retirement: Attitudes and Expectations, found almost 1 in 5 over-50s interviewed stated they had little or no understanding of how their pension schemes worked. This rose to 1 in 3 respondents in the under-25 age group.

Good pension schemes can help with the recruitment and retention of high quality staff, but only if they are communicated in a way that employees can understand. CIPD has provided information that can be accessed on the new DWP website www.pensionsatwork.gov.uk to help employers communicate their pension scheme effectively, by:

- Showing how some key pensions challenges are being addressed within a number of organisations.
- Providing ideas and tools to use.
- Demonstrating good practice.

More information can be found in CIPDís free guide, Pensions Communications - realising the value. The guide uses case studies to highlight some of the challenges organisations have faced and the solutions they have put in place to ensure their pension scheme is a benefit to the business.