Young people and pensions don’t always have the most compatible relationship. PensioenLab aims to change that. APG team members Maurice Berende and Robin Frusch recently worked as mentors with students on issues like ‘making choices’ regarding fund voting policies and how to engage young people in thinking about their pensions and the Wtp. How has ‘student’ Gideon Rodenburg experienced this mission work from our colleagues?
"I received a flyer about PensioenLab from my pension fund, ABP. They were looking for participants. I thought, well, that could be something for me”, says Rodenburg. He works as at the human resource department at Utrecht University and wanted to learn more about pensions. “I hadn’t paid much attention to pensions before, even though I do get questions about them at work. Especially from older colleagues at the university nearing retirement age. Mostly general questions, like: what does Utrecht University offer older employees in terms of guidance for life after retirement? What training or courses are available? But when it gets too technical, we refer them to the fund, which for us is ABP.”
Engaging young people
Rodenburg was part of the group led by mentor Robin Frusch. They tackled the question of how to engage young people with their pensions and the Wtp. “It’s very interesting. You can see at our university, too, that young people show little interest in pensions. I was the same way - I’m 30 now and started working about five years ago after studying Human Resource Management. I thought it was great that the pension was well arranged, but beyond that, it wasn’t really the reason I chose the university job. Even when I started in HR, that wasn’t a big factor.”
A new perspective
Gradually, Rodenburg began to see things differently. “That flyer from ABP came at the perfect moment, but I had a few questions about it. What exactly does the program entail? What if I can’t attend on a day we’re supposed to meet? I got detailed information, and after that, I was convinced that participating in the PensioenLab program would be valuable for me.” Rodenburg’s group includes other ‘young people,’ all active in the pension sector. “I had the least knowledge and had to get used to all the jargon. I had to look things up from time to time”, he admits.
Conducting research
Rodenburg says they started addressing how the pension world can engage young people with their pensions and the Wtp by conducting research. “It showed that employers and pension funds mainly send formal information letters or place ads. But young people also told us that these forms of communication don’t resonate with them.” They also looked into communication related to the Wtp. Why? Because when the Wtp comes into effect, some things will change that are also relevant to young professionals. “If you think about your pension early, you have more time to address any issues, like a potential pension gap”, Rodenburg notes.
Surprising
The survey results were somewhat surprising to him. “Letters and ads don’t work, so what does? You’d think social media would be the way to reach young people. But our survey found that young people prefer to receive information through short videos with the most relevant information per topic. Additionally, some would like to get information by a newsletter or at an event. We also saw that young people think it’s important that the person delivering the information is an expert, ideally a young person they can relate to.”
A valuable learning experience
Rodenburg looks back on a valuable learning experience. “I’ve gained knowledge, and now I carry more pension-related insights than ever before. Plus, I’ve expanded my network.” He enjoyed it so much that he’s inspired colleagues on his team at the university. “Several colleagues have signed up for the upcoming PensioenLab programs, partly because of my enthusiasm. Isn’t that great?”