As millennials look to their employers to integrate their career, education and leisure, this creates challenges for the pension industry, said Erica Hall, assistant vice-president of client relations and group retirement solutions at Manulife, speaking at Benefits Canada’s 2019 DC Plan Summit in Banff, Alta. in February.
“We are very linear — they enrol, accumulate and decumulate. So how are we, as service providers and HR specialists, going to support those workers?”
It’s more important than ever for defined contribution plan sponsors to consider how they’re engaging members, said Hall, including personalizing their interactions. It’s about going beyond a name on a statement or a website, to using data and analytics, she added.
Read: Investing through the DC plan member lens
“In order for someone to feel engaged, it has to feel relevant. They have to feel connected, they have to be able to feel they can identify with it. But most importantly, they have to actually feel something to take action.”
In addition to members’ plan details, employers have information on demographics, how employees are behaving on websites and whether they’re submitting transactions via paper or contacting call centres, said Hall, noting the industry can use this information to create guided experiences for members.
“We can do that in three ways: through the personalized messages, through strategic tactics that are very specific and through using those touchpoint options that the member has told us [are] how they want to communicate with us.”
Read more coverage from the 2019 DC Plan Summit.