It’s often difficult to reach out and influence DC plan member behaviour.
“People are not aware, people are not engaged, people are not doing anything,” said Marc-Antoine Morin, senior team leader, marketing and customer solutions, with Standard Life at Benefits Canada’s Benefits & Pension Summit in Toronto.
Many plan members are inert because they feel they won’t be able to evaluate their options, he noted.
Morin noted that the most popular method to learn about retirement transition matters is in one-on-one settings.
Windsor, Ont.-based DJ Galvanizing used to do group sessions for all of its employees, but that’s changed.
“We focus on different groups for our employees,” explained Kristi Farmer, the company’s accounting and benefits co-ordinator.
It does a two-day retirement workshop for employees age 52 and older. The workshop is mandatory for those over the age of 60. The first day is held at an assisted-living facility, and the second day is held at a seniors’ centre, which also allows employees to ask questions while in attendance.
Financial planners, lawyers and representatives from both Service Canada and the Canadian Mental Health Association make presentations. And a number of topics are discussed, such as job sharing, funeral planning, continuing education and volunteering.
For workers who are 50 or older, mandatory one-hour-long sessions are held during work hours where building a retirement income plan is discussed.
And there are sessions for employees under 50 to learn about investments, retirement and the plan member website.
All sessions are open to the workers’ spouses, and they are encouraged to attend.
Farmer said this new approach has helped plan members.
By providing more support to employees, Morin believes they’ll save earlier, make better decisions and feel better about retirement.
“People want to have support from people,” he said. “We need to find ways to simplify the life of the member.”
All the articles from the event can be found on our special section: 2014 Benefits & Pension Summit Coverage.
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