Starting a movement: a national initiative to build employee engagement in (lost) workplace pensions

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the establishment of a National Pension Tracing Day in an attempt to address the national problem of employees not telling their pension provider when they change address, which has resulted in £19.4bn in unclaimed pensions.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper considers the approach taken by Punter Southall Aspire to build employee engagement to trace lost workplace pension through a summative content analysis. This paper then applies an ambidextrous leadership lens to develop greater meaning.

Findings

The combination of a simple narrative, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach allowing cooperation across the industry and an engaging campaign allowed the first National Pension Tracing Day to build momentum and spread across the workplace.

Originality/value

The first National Pension Tracing day was established on 31 October 2021 by a small team within an small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). This paper attempts to raise awareness of how the lost pension challenge can be addressed for the purpose of future research.

Citation

Butler, S. and Smith, S.M. (2022), "Starting a movement: a national initiative to build employee engagement in (lost) workplace pensions", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 59-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-01-2022-0003