Electronic Arts wins Most Effective Pensions Communication Strategy at Employee Benefits Awards

July 6, 2012 - PRLog -- Thomsons picked up the trophy for ‘Most Effective Pensions Communications Strategy’ for their work with Electronic Arts (EA) to improve awareness and engagement levels for their pension scheme.

The Employee Benefits Awards, held at The Artillery Garden at the HAC, recognise and showcase employers that have made a significant difference to their organisations through their reward strategies. The independence and integrity of these coveted awards is well-recognised and therefore makes winning a highly regarded achievement.

“Electronic Arts’ creative and fun strategy was designed to engage younger employees with pensions” commented Employee Benefits Awards. The “My Future” campaign, which focused on educating employees about their pension and why it is important, included an online quiz on how much more value a pension has if employees start saving early, and pension education workshops followed by one-to-one sessions. The communications campaign increased overall membership of the pension scheme from 66% to 71% in one month. Meanwhile, take-up among employees aged between 20 and 30 increased from 43% to 63%. One judge said: “[It was] dealing with an audience that can be extremely difficult.””

Michael Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “This was an exciting recognition for the work we have done with Electronic Arts. This project took advantage of Thomsons bespoke software DarwinTM as well as our innovative ways to communicate and engage with staff. The results were not only a significant increase on overall participation and contributions, but also raised awareness amongst the young Electronic Arts workforce about the importance of future planning for retirement all without mentioning the “p” word!”

Melanie Crowther, Head of Compensation and Benefits at EA adds: “We were thrilled to win the Employee Benefits Award for ‘Most Effective Pensions Communication Strategy’. As one of the most established names in the video games industry, EA employ a largely male workforce with a young average age. We faced the challenge of how to inspire our employees, who make fantastically interactive software, to be interested in something as unsexy as pensions? Working with Thomsons Online Benefits, we approached this in an unusual way, completely in line with our culture and brand. By using interactive and entertaining tools and channels, and tapping into employees concerns about their “future income” rather than using the word pensions, we saw increased levels of both take up and contributions.  Thomsons were an invaluable partner, providing creative thinking, continued support and guidance who showed that they really did understand what made our employees tick.”

Other Thomsons Clients who were finalists on the day included Blackrock for ‘Most effective total reward strategy’ and D Young & Co for ‘Most effective alignment of reward strategy to business strategy for organisations with fewer than 1,000 employees.’

About Thomsons Online Benefits:

Thomsons Online Benefits help businesses gain maximum benefit from their employee reward schemes at minimum cost. With their unique consulting methodology Intelligent RewardTM and their award winning benefits administration technology platform, DarwinTM, organisations the world over trust Thomsons Online Benefits with their employee reward programmes.

Thomsons Online Benefits has won over 50 awards including ‘Firm of the Year’ and 'Best Use of Technology' in the 2012 Corporate Adviser Awards and attracted a prestigious portfolio of clients that includes Cisco, Microsoft and RBS.

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