Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • LOGIN
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE Act 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2022 Innovation Investing Conference
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • 2022 Alternatives Investing Conference
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Retirement Plans
February 08, 2021 12:00 AM

Tailored financial wellness offerings foster takeup, consultants say

Paulina Pielichata
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Will Sandbrook
    NEST Insight's Will Sandbrook

    When it comes to financial wellness tools, industry sources say the key to successful takeup is ensuring that the options meet the needs of a sponsor's unique employee groups.

    Takeup is higher when employers offer a strategy that employees have requested, said Richard Sweetman, senior director and financial well-being lead at Willis Towers Watson PLC in London.

    Allowing employees to divert additional contributions to a retirement plan beyond the mandatory employee and employer contribution of 8% to an individual savings account, tends to be more successful than just giving participants the option of paying cash into a separate ISA program, he added.

    According to research conducted independently for workplace savings benefit and ISA provider Cushon Money Ltd. in May, 71.5% of 2,000 U.K. employees said an employer should set up a solution allowing for contributions to flow into workplace savings accounts such as ISAs alongside a retirement plan.

    Some 41% of these employees wanted some of their retirement contributions to be redirected into such a workplace savings account instead of their retirement plan.

    Aileen Newall, head of reward at HEINEKEN U.K. in Edinburgh, said that the firm's flexible benefits program, known as The Benefits Bar, is made up of a range of options including a retirement plan with an additional contribution match option of up to 10% of salary, a savings account and educational options.

    "A core principle of The Benefits Bar is to give flexibility and choice for all colleagues, no matter their lifestyle, she said. Some colleagues might want the discipline of saving every month, while others might have a short-term savings goal in mind, she said.

    Through a platform provided by Cushon, HEINEKEN's workers can view their retirement projections to help make financial decisions, she added. Cushon also allows workers to add regular savings into an ISA.

    But groups of low-income employees might need an extra nudge to get them to utilize financial wellness programs on a voluntary basis — even if they are interested in savings programs offered by plan sponsors.

    To help develop wellness programs that would be more suitable for low-income employees, NEST Insight, the research unit of the £15 billion ($20.5 billion) defined contribution multiemployer plan National Employment Savings Trust, is currently running a sidecar account trial with a few U.K. employers. In the Jars sidecar savings project, which was first announced in 2018, employees of participating employers, such as BT Group PLC, can set their own savings target for an emergency fund, which they contribute to as much as they choose. Once the target savings amount of the sidecar account is reached, these contributions switch destinations and flow instead into a participants retirement account.

    Will Sandbrook, executive director of NEST Insight, said that the "organic" uptake by participating employees has so far been low. "There is a quite substantial gap between people who respond they would use the benefit (vs.) then actually doing it," he said. "It's a little bit early to comment about the flows into the emergency savings in the project," he said. However, "in terms of setting it up, people have found it straightforward."

    One option NEST Insight plans to test to encourage usage involves automatically signing employees up to use the sidecar savings tool but then giving them the option to opt out. Once employees have been signed up they are less likely to opt out, he said. Information on how much has been saved in the pilot program to date was not disclosed.

    Related Articles
    Virus underlines importance of financial wellness
    Employee confidence in financial wellness down despite increase in programs
    Financial wellness gets spot at the table
    Recommended for You
    Australian currency on a desktop with a calculator, spiral bound notebook and the word 'super' spelled out it letters
    UniSuper, Australian Catholic Super to move ahead with merger plans
    Australian money with the word SUPER, and a calculator and notebook
    AustralianSuper plans to double private equity exposures by mid-2024
    Hawaii_Capitol_i.jpg
    Hawaii passes bill to create state-run auto-IRA program
    Alternatives: Investing Across the Spectrum
    Sponsored Content: Alternatives: Investing Across the Spectrum

    Reader Poll

    May 9, 2022
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Are Factors a Thing of the Past?
    Q2 2022 Credit Outlook: Carry On
    Leverage does not equal risk
    Is there a mid-cap gap in your DC plan?
    Out of the Shadows: The Revolution in Shadow Accounting
    The pivotal role of fixed income markets in the ESG revolution
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    May 9, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE Act 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2022 Innovation Investing Conference
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
      • 2022 Alternatives Investing Conference