Sixty eight per cent of BT employees expressed that they have taken action regarding their pensions since attending a seminar held by Wealth at work, it has been revealed.

Since 2012 BT, in partnership with Wealth at work, a workplace financial education provider, held a voluntary financial education programme for its employees to help them plan ahead for retirement.

According to the Pensions Age exclusive case study, of the 68 per cent, 20 per cent of employees brought forward their planned retirement date and 40 per cent increased or started making additional voluntary contributions. A further 22 per cent started or increased their share plan contributions.

From these findings, Wealth at work emphasised that financial education is the first step in assisting employees to understand their retirement options.

Since the introduction of the financial education programme, BT conducted research amongst its employees who have attended a retirement planning seminar to assess the long-term benefits of an ongoing financial education programme.

The majority of employees, 93 per cent, rated the retirement seminars highly (scoring either a 4 or 5 on a 1 to 5 scale), and 90 per cent said that they would recommend the seminar to a colleague.

Wealth at work director Jonathan Watts-Lay commented: “The fact that so many employees went on to take further significant actions after attending a seminar is testament to the powerful effect of financial education."

It helps employees understand the financial decisions they will face at-retirement, encourages them to think about how much money they will need in retirement and how best to save towards this, he added.

BT group head of pensions and benefits Kevin O’Boyle said: “We have worked with Wealth at work for a number of years, and they have helped us not only to put together and deliver highly-engaging seminars, but supported this with an online capability to help BT employees through their decision-making process. This complements our own pensions modelling tool by giving specialist information about relevant issues such as state benefits and capital investment. The research we conducted highlights how much the retirement planning seminars have benefitted our employees financial wellbeing and we hope to continue to build on this in the future.”

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