Top Ten Tips for... Helping Your Employees Plan for Retirement
Planning for retirement is, ultimately, down to each individual employee - but that doesn’t mean there aren’t steps that employers can take to help provide support and guidance during this process.
Here are our top ten tips for helping your employees prep for a long and happy retirement...
1. Claiming a state pension
When it comes to receiving a state pension, this doesn’t normally happen automatically. Your employees will need to claim their state pension, which can be done online, and will have different entitlements depending on their qualifying National Insurance contributions and credits.
You can find out more from Gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension
2. Tracing old pensions
In the last several years, more and more organisations have implemented opt-out pension schemes, meaning that your employees may have more than one workplace pension to keep track of. The government provides a free Pension Tracing service that can help with this, even if your employees don’t have the details of the pension providers.
Find out more from the Pension Tracing Service here: https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
3. Encourage financial planning
As we continue to face a cost of living crisis in the UK, the subject of financial wellbeing has become a bigger consideration for many employers. Money worries and financial related stress could be a very real concern, especially for those employees who are coming up to retirement age. Encourage your staff to plan in advance and if possible, help them work out and manage their predicted pension income. Perhaps you could also arrange to provide support and advice relating to debt-reduction and budgeting?
4. Consider phased-retirement
Retirement doesn’t always mean that your employees have to cut their working hours from full time to zero all at once. Consider having policies and procedures in place that allow your staff to work a phased retirement. Some people may prefer to take a slower, more flexible approach and be semi-retired for a few years first, allowing them to adjust financially and mentally to this next step in their life.
5. Preparing emotionally
Retiring is a huge life event and many people often underestimate the emotional and mental impact this can have. While you’re helping your employees plan for this next milestone, make sure they are also offered help to prepare to handle the lack of routine and the potential feelings of isolation and loss of purpose that some people experience. Why not provide tips and advice on how they can boost their mental wellbeing as they step into retirement?
6. Staying social
It’s common for people to feel isolated when they no longer need to head into the workplace every day. Encourage your retiring employees to take steps to stay social going forward. Perhaps you can provide a list of local groups or organisations that your team can join out of office hours? Or maybe set up a club within the workplace? This could be a great way for all employees, retiring or not, to continue socialising with work friends.
7. Implement peer-to-peer support
In larger organisations, it’s possible to have several employees who are retiring at a similar time. By setting up a peer-to-peer support system, these employees can discuss retirement together and lean on each other as they navigate these changes. When it comes to daunting matters such as financial planning, having the support of someone in a similar boat can be hugely beneficial.
8. Don’t forget to check in
Just because an employee is semi-retired or retiring soon, doesn’t mean that they won’t still appreciate the support of their employer. Make sure to check in regularly with these employees, especially if they are doing a phased retirement. Do they still have everything they need to do their job? Are they managing their new work load and working hours okay? Whether an employee works one day a week, or five, they are more likely to be productive and motivated if they feel valued and cared for.
9. Say thank you!
As a member of staff comes up to retirement, it’s a great opportunity to recognise their hard work and dedication. Why not bring the team together to celebrate your retiring employees and their achievements? This will likely help them to feel proud of and positive about their career, helping them take the next steps forward with the right mindset.
10. Provide helpful resources
There are some fantastic resources online that you can share with your employees to help support them as they head into retirement. Here are just a few that were mentioned above:
Claiming a state pension – gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/get-state-pension
Pension Tracing Service – gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
Retirement planning – Age UK: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/work-learning/retirement/
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