Often, younger people in particular feel as though a comfortable retirement is out of their reach. According to the Scottish Widows’ Retirement Report 2018, although the number of under 30s saving enough for retirement has increased by nine per cent, more than one in five young people are still not saving anything for later life.

As an employer, you can help show young employees that a comfortable retirement is attainable. And encouraging your employees to think more about their pension is beneficial for you, too. Showing that you care for your staff’s future will often lead to a more dedicated workforce that trusts you, helping you avoid a high turnover. Your pension offering could also be a reason for an interviewee to choose your company over another.

Pension membership has increased overall, largely due to automatic enrolment (AE) – 76% of UK employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2018, up from 73% in 2017.

According to the Automatic Enrolment evaluation 2018 report from the Department for Work & Pensions, data collected up to 2017 found that the number of eligible employees participating in a workplace pension has increased to 17.7 million, up from 10.7 million in 2012.

The AE process applies to workers aged 22 or over, however if your employee is younger, and they earn £6,136 or more in the tax year 2019-20, they can still opt in and benefit from pension saving.

Worryingly, recent research from the master trust Atlas, shows that 60 per cent of survey respondents viewed automatic enrolment minimums as a guideline for how much they should be saving into their pension. This means they are not saving nearly enough to afford to retire comfortably. Many savers said they would like more transparency from their employers to ensure they are on track for a comfortable retirement.

Here are some things to consider to help you attract younger employees to working and saving towards a comfortable retirement:

• Regularly remind your employees that the pension is a very valuable part of their benefits package.
• Highlight the importance for employees to plan ahead and think about the lifestyle they want when they retire and how much they may need to save to afford it.
• Remind members to check on their pension savings regularly and make sure they’re on track for the income they want when they retire.
• Encourage members to save more if they can afford to do so – small payments, little and often, can make a big difference.
• Promote the Company’s pension using everyday language that they can understand – don’t get caught up with jargon and technical terms.

Remember, the member websites, RPS and BTP, have plenty of information, guides, videos, and other resources to help your members learn more about their pension and benefits.