EXCLUSIVE: Commodity trading organisation Freepoint Commodities has seen 45% of UK employees who are members of its workplace pension scheme check their pensions online on a monthly basis since the launch of a new group pension and workplace savings platform in January 2016.
The organisation introduced the new group self-invested personal pension (Sipp) and workplace savings platform, provided by Hargreaves Lansdown, to encourage its UK staff to take a more active role in their pension investments and retirement planning.
Upon the scheme’s launch, 12% of staff increased their pension contributions. Since the launch, 56 out of 61 employees have transferred pension savings into the new group pension, with 31% of transfers coming from outside of the existing workplace pension plan.
Almost two-thirds (65%) of pension scheme members have registered for online access, and a third have invested outside of the default fund.
The scheme also includes other workplace saving options, with 16% of employees choosing to invest in an individual savings account (Isa) alongside their pension.
Four presentations and 48 individual meetings were held to communicate the launch of the new scheme to staff.
Joe Minichiello, European controller at Freepoint Commodities, said: “Our existing pension scheme had become tired and we were keen for our staff to take control of their retirement planning. Introducing [these] services has taken our workplace pension to the next level. Our people can now access their pension far more easily online.
“While we need to employ financially savvy people, they are not pension experts so the opportunity for one-to-one meetings has really hit the spot. Some of our employees have also been impacted by changing pension legislation, so having experts on hand to explain this has been really useful.
“All in all, I’ve never seen this level of interest in a workplace benefit before.”