How can you create a DC strategy that truly engages employees?
A moderated discussion at Benefits Canada’s 2014 Benefits & Pension Summit in Toronto—including Jackie Goldman, vice-president, HR programs, with Canadian Tire and Julie Gaudry, director, benefits, wellness & financial education, with RBC and moderated by Zaheed Jiwani, senior vice-president, client strategy, with Greystone Managed Investments—explored the key elements through two employer case studies.
Canadian Tire
The company’s objective was to “shine a spotlight” on retirement programs as a critical part of the employee experience, Goldman explained. As a result, Canadian Tire took action to modernize the programs and showcase their value to employees.
It wound down the share purchase plan and replaced it with the Canadian Tire savings plan; changed the vesting schedule to immediate vesting; opened up investment choice and diversification for plan members; and changed the contribution levels to make it more affordable for lower-income employees (reducing the employee contribution from 10% to 5%, with a 5% employer match). It also expanded the mandate of the DPSP committee to include governance and oversight for all CAP programs.
Canadian Tire then embarked on an employee communications campaign designed around three principles: Learn, Decide and Act. The objective was to get employees focused on how much they need to save, what accounts they should use and what investments are right for them. “We’ve done a lot of work communicating that to employees,” Goldman added.
RBC
RBC had good participation rates in its retirement savings programs. But employees didn’t completely understand them, and surveys revealed that—although they work for a financial institution—they weren’t entirely comfortable with making investment decisions.
RBC’s goal was to build broader knowledge of financial planning concepts among employees. “It certainly wasn’t just about our retirement savings programs,” said Gaudry. “It was much broader than that.”
To this end, RBC created the Invest in Yourself microsite as a platform to bring its client-facing tools in-house to employees. Branded with consistent messaging and divided by life stage, with action items tailored to each stage, the site also includes a retirement and savings calculator and an Ask the Expert feature.
The program, which launched in November 2012 to coincide with Financial Literacy Month, included weekly emails to employees and a “refer a friend” contest on the website. It was “a great way to spread the word,” Gaudry explained, as 16,000 employees received referrals.
In the 2013 campaign, RBC created an online financial wellness passport, for which employees could earn stamps by participating in certain activities (e.g., doing a financial literacy assessment). Ninety-five percent of employees participated, with most getting all nine stamps.
Sustaining employee engagement in financial matters is part of RBC’s culture. “If we deliver something to our clients every day—if our employees could experience that—then they could become brand ambassadors,” Gaudry added.
All the articles from the event can be found on our special section: 2014 Benefits & Pension Summit Coverage.