At the end of 2020, we sent a survey to test the effectiveness of the means of communication. Pensioners and former participants received the survey by post. A new format, which uses the HPF as its corporate identity, meant that the distinction between certain letters was either absent or minimal. Many participants have received a correct password on request and completed the survey. Participants who live abroad received the letter after the conclusion of the survey. Sorry for the inconvenience.
We would like to thank everyone who completed the survey! We can deduce from the results which means of communication are effective and which means of communication we can further improve.
Below you will find the main results of the survey.
Response rates
• In total 11.48% of the participants completed the survey (2017: 10.43%).
• The survey was mainly completed by active participants. 29.2% of the active participants completed the survey.
• The survey was completed by 11% of the pensioners and 1.9% of the former participants (former employees who still have pension entitlements with the HPF).
Pensioners
The survey shows that pensioners are well informed and know where to find the information relevant to them. The pensioners are mainly interested in the amount of the pension and any supplement or discount on it. They will receive information about this in the premium and supplement letter and the pension overview. In the newsletter and the website they can be informed about current events if they are interested in this. We believe that there are no direct areas for improvement in the context of communication with pensioners.
Former participants
Only a very small percentage of the former participants completed the survey. This low response and the given answers show that we have little contact with the former participants. We accept this fact because the former participants often have a small pension entitlement with us and often work elsewhere and also accrue pension there. The premium and supplement letter will only be sent to the former participants if a supplement or discount takes place. The former participants do receive the annual overview and their pension overview each year, which contains the information relevant to them. At the age of 58, they also receive a congratulatory card with a link to the pension planner to bring this planner to their attention. In the newsletter and the website they can be informed about current events if they are interested in this. We believe that there are no direct areas for improvement in the context of communication with the former participants.
Active members
The survey shows that the active members are well-informed, but that we have not yet aroused interest in retirement. Interest in retirement varies by age group/stage in working life. We therefore divide the active participants into three groups:
a. Participants up to age 40 (relatively young participants)
b. Participants 40 – 55 years old (middle group)
c. The participants 55 – 68 years old (participants close to retirement age)
Group a participants up to and including 40 years and group b participants 40-55 years
The results of these two groups are roughly the same. Almost 70% indicate that they are informed about the pension scheme and the majority are also aware of pension as an important employment condition. However, almost half of the participants indicate that they are not aware of the times when choices can be made. In addition, only half of the participants read the Uniform Pension Overview. It is striking that many participants do not know much about their pension. This while the pension is of great importance and both the participants and the employer pay a lot of money for the pension. Furthermore, the life events (such as living together, getting married and divorced) are particularly relevant for these participants. We therefore mainly want to focus on that. This has already been done in 2020 with our blogs, but we also want to make the life events more explicit on our website and refer to them via other means of communication. We are therefore going to implement a few points for improvement with regard to communication with these participants.
Group C participants 55 – 68 years old
The last group (group c) has regular contact with the helpdesk. At the age of 58, they also receive a congratulatory card with a link to the pension planner to bring this planner to their attention. We believe that there are no direct areas for improvement in the context of communication with these participants. Of course, the extra communication about life events (such as living together, getting married and divorced) for the participants up to and including the age of 55 will also be available to this group of participants.
