Retirement can feel a long way off. Between day-to-day financial commitments, cost of living, and competing priorities – pension savings can easily slip down the agenda.
Pension Engagement Season can provide a valuable opportunity for you to encourage your employees to take stock of their retirement plans. Whether it's reviewing current contributions, tracing pensions from previous jobs, or simply spending a few minutes totting up what's already been saved – small actions today can help build a clearer picture of the retirement they want and the financial future they're working towards.
Here are six ways you can help employees reconnect with their retirement savings.
1. Use National Pension Tracing Day as a conversation starter
Many people work for several employers throughout their careers, making it easy to lose track of pension savings built up along the way.
National Pension Tracing Day offers a simple opportunity to raise awareness and encourage employees to think about whether they have pensions from previous jobs that they may have forgotten about.
A timely reminder could be all it takes to prompt someone to start searching.
For your diaries, National Pension Tracing Day takes place on the day the clocks go back each year. This year, it falls on 25 October, using the idea of a 'spare hour' as a prompt for employees to trace any pension pots they may have lost track of.
2. Make retirement savings part of your wider financial wellbeing programme
Employees may be more likely to engage with retirement planning if it's positioned as part of their overall financial wellbeing rather than a standalone topic.
Linking pension communications to broader themes such as financial confidence, future planning, and their life goals can help employees see how today's pension contributions support tomorrow's aspirations.
Money:Mindshift can provide you with the knowledge and strategies on how to incorporate financial wellbeing into your workplace.
Whether their ideal retirement involves travel, spending more time with family, or pursuing new interests – having a vision for the future can make saving feel more meaningful.
If you want to learn more about this idea, you might want to explore 'How to connect with your future self', an episode of the Money:Mindshift podcast in which Dr Tom is joined by behavioural scientist Hal Hershfield. Together, they discuss how maximising future happiness can start by visualising what we want, and who we want to be.
The episode is available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
3. Help employees reconnect with the bigger picture
For some, pensions may feel like a deduction on their payslip rather than a valuable part of their overall reward package.
Regular communication can help employees see how their pension fits into their broader financial future. Whether they're saving for later life, considering their retirement goals, or reviewing pensions from previous jobs – helping employees understand the bigger picture can make engagement feel more meaningful.
The Money and Pension Service campaign Talk Money Week from 2 to 6 November is encouraging people to have more open conversations about their finances – from pocket money to pensions – and to continue these conversations all year-round.
4. Signpost trusted support and guidance
Pensions don't have to be complicated, but some people might not know where to start.
Providing access to trusted sources of information and guidance can help employees feel more confident about taking their next step, whether that's tracing an old pension, reviewing contributions or learning about their options.
This year's Pension Awareness Day focused on how taking just two minutes to check in on your pension, less time than it takes to make a cup of tea, can be a small step that makes a big difference to your future. While the event has now taken place, catch-up videos from 15 to 16 September are available to share with employees.
5. Keeping the momentum going beyond engagement season
Awareness days and seasonal campaigns can be powerful prompts, but lasting engagement could be built through regular communication. Creating ongoing opportunities for employees to learn about, review, and engage with their retirement savings can help pensions feel less like a once-a-year task and more like an important part of planning for their retirement and financial future.
Take a look at our guide to running a campaign by heading to our promoting your scheme page and selecting your scheme.
6. Encourage regular pension check-ins
Small actions can have a big impact. Some employees may only think about their pension when they join a company or receive annual statements.
Encouraging them to review their retirement savings regularly, using Aegon's free online tools, can help them stay connected to their future goals and better understand whether they're on track for the retirement lifestyle they have in mind.
Helping employees plan for the future
Engagement season offers a useful reminder that retirement planning isn't something employees need to leave until later life.
By encouraging people to reconnect with their retirement savings today, you can help build greater financial confidence, improve engagement with workplace benefits, and support better retirement outcomes in the years ahead.