Pension wellbeing is a vital element of your employees’ financial wellbeing, overall wellbeing and also the wellbeing of your business. In essence, helping your employees to have clear plans for the future with a good pension plan provides them with the peace of mind to know they can retire in comfort, and sets them up to give their best in the workplace. However, pension wellbeing now needs to be prioritised, as according to Mintago’s research 40% of employees say that a lack of knowledge regarding pensions is causing them significant stress.
This lack of pension wellbeing could not only impact the wellbeing of your staff, but the success of your business as a whole – employees who are stressed about finances are more likely to take time off with mental health issues, be less engaged in the workplace, and, subsequently, be less productive. Let’s take a closer look at this important issue and how prioritising pension wellbeing can benefit your employees and business alike.
What is pension wellbeing?
Pension wellbeing is a term that exists under the wider umbrella of financial wellbeing. However, conversations around this broader subject can be far-ranging and confusing, so focusing on the sub-topic of pension wellbeing is useful for clarity. This is important, as pensions affect everybody, ultimately making the difference between a carefree retirement and a much less appealing future. Improving pension wellbeing involves providing a good pension scheme for your employees, as well as offering education and guidance so they can take control of their finances for the future.
Those who understand the importance of their pension are likely to manage it better and get the most out of their contributions, ensuring that they know how much they need to save for their retirement. In turn, this creates happier, more financially resilient employees, with greater financial wellbeing, who are more productive and can better contribute to your business success.
Improving pension wellbeing and saving money
Employees’ pensions are one of the biggest blocks of money that you, as an employer, have to manage each payroll run. It therefore makes sense for you to focus on saving as much money as possible in this area.
Mintago can help make this process much more efficient with easy-to-use online tools. We can also help you and your employees save money through the Salary Sacrifice pension scheme. In this way, you can reduce your National Insurance contributions (NICs) and your employees can also make tax savings. The money your business saves can then be put back into your business, or perhaps reinvested in providing wellbeing support for your employees.
Many companies are unaware of this scheme and the benefits it offers to businesses and employees, so do not know how to implement it to their advantage. Mintago takes care of the whole process for you, saving time and resources, so your business and employees can simply enjoy the financial savings.
What happens if you do not prioritise pension wellbeing?
If you do not prioritise financial and pension wellbeing, your employees will not get the support and guidance they need to live a financially healthy life. This could lead to them developing mental health problems from financial stress, resulting in reduced employee engagement in the workplace.
Indeed, there is a well-known link between money worries and mental health, with financial issues being one of the most common causes of modern-day stress. New research is confirming this all the time, particularly with the cost-of-living crisis adding to the financial pressure on everyone. In a recent survey by Mintago, 56% of respondents said their finances were the greatest cause of stress in their lives, and almost a third (32%) admitted they struggled with day-to-day tasks because they were so worried about their financial situation, with this affecting their productivity in the workplace.
Helping your employees plan for the future and improve their pension wellbeing can substantially ease the stress they feel and reduce the chance of them suffering mental health issues as a result. In fact, recent research has found that those who plan for the future are three times more positive about their finances than those who do not.
Why is pension wellbeing such a key part of financial wellbeing?
To the average person, their pension is one of their most valuable assets, so ensuring this is well taken care of is central to their financial wellbeing. By providing your employees with the educational material and the tools they need to manage and understand their pension better, you can help maximise their current and future quality of life. This will improve their financial wellbeing considerably.
People are now increasingly aware of the importance of saving towards retirement early on in their lives, so there is a greater demand for this aspect of financial wellbeing. In fact, both society and employers have begun to recognise how essential it is that employees’ financial wellbeing as a whole is prioritised, as this affects every aspect of a person’s life, including mental health, physical health and social wellbeing.
Making pensions simpler
Mintago offers invaluable tools and guidance which can substantially improve your employees’ pension wellbeing. Indeed, these can make the whole subject of pensions so much easier to understand and manage for you and your employees.
Your team can use Mintago’s pension dashboard to improve their overall pension wellbeing, as it allows full management of their pension and restores any loss of control they might feel in what can seem like a complex process. They can also use our Pension Hunter tool to locate any lost pension pots they may have from previous jobs and optimise their retirement savings. With the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) reporting that there are 2.8 billion pension pots that are considered lost, at a value of £26.6 million, this can help many employees. It can also take the strain out of tracking down such funds, as our experts do all of the work, and have located as much as more than £18m in lost pensions to date.
In addition, your employees can choose to consolidate all their past and present pensions, helping them to see what they have contributed in total and enabling them to remove the complexity from managing their funds. Your staff can also access a wide range of educational materials to learn more about financial subjects, including retirement planning, and can even gain free access to expert financial advisers who can help them create an individual retirement plan to suit their needs.
The power of Mintago
At Mintago, we offer a service that is focused on saving both businesses and employees money. While many wellbeing solutions are implemented at a cost to the employer, we help your business to save money and make a great return on investment. Our platform also provides valuable HR insights to help you monitor the progress of your employees and see how they are using the platform. You can be sure that you are getting great value for money and can offer any further support your employees may need in particular areas.
Until recently, the technology required for people to learn how much money to contribute towards their pension and how much they need to retire on was not readily available. However, this has now changed, and Mintago can help improve pension wellbeing by making it easier for employees to understand how to set and meet their own financial goals, such as the age they wish to retire and how much money they want to retire with.
Mintago is on a mission to improve both employer and employee pension wellbeing by providing the user-friendly tools and learning materials needed to easily manage pensions, making the whole process simpler for everyone. We believe in promoting the importance of pension wellbeing, as this can have such a profoundly positive effect, benefitting both businesses and employees alike.