News items
PDN surveys member satisfaction about the pension fund every two years. We like to know what our members think about our services and communication and where they still see room for improvement. A research agency conducted the ‘Benchmark Monitor Pension Funds’ (BMP) in spring 2021. Other company pension funds also took part. It helps us find out how we’re doing compared with other funds. We spoke with Mark Gerards, DPS communications consultant about the results and the follow-up.Member results
Mark began: ‘First, I want to thank everyone who completed the survey. It gives us important information we can really use. Our members are generally satisfied with the fund. Overall our members rated us with a 7.4 and gave us a 7.4 for our information services, and a 7.5 for service quality. Approximately three-quarters feels they have a clear insight into their pension scheme. There’s also a high level of pension awareness. I’m really happy about this as it’s such a complex topic. I also found it remarkable that only a small number of members wants to receive pension information via social media.'
Can yet more things be improved? Mark continued: ‘Almost half of members thinks that we can improve how we communicate about financial risks. They’d also like more information about their own situation. I was a bit shocked by the rather low rating on understanding our members’ needs. We’ll certainly be addressing that.’
| The member survey focused on two target groups: Active members and pensioners. Pension funds from Philips, ING, ABN AMRO, SABIC, Staples and Rail en OV all took part in the benchmark. |
Pensioner results
‘Pensioners are more positive than members across all topics,’ explained Mark. ‘They rated the fund with a 7.9, our information services with an 8.0, and service quality with an 8.1. Three-quarters had a positive impression of the pension fund and four in five have confidence or a lot of confidence in PDN. Almost all pensioners feel they have a clear insight into their pension scheme. However, they do want improved insight into why no indexation has taken place for years, the consequences this will have, and what they can do to keep their pension at the desired level.’
Socially Responsible
PDN also wanted to gauge how important socially-responsible investing is for members and pensioners. Mark continued: ‘According to them, we need to take into account how the companies we invest in treat people and the environment, but they don’t think socially-responsible investing should be at the expense of returns or lead to higher risks.’
Comparison
PDN members are generally just as satisfied as members of comparable pension funds. Pensioners are somewhat less positive about some topics. Why is that? Mark replied: ‘One explanation for this is that other funds indexed in recent years. PDN couldn’t do that.’ The survey also showed that members and pensioners from the affiliated companies have the same opinion about our fund. There are no major differences here.
'People want improved insight into what they can do to keep their pension at the desired level'
What next?
We’re pleased with the research results, but we certainly see room for improvement. Mark continued: ‘We’ll be working on our customer focus and will also focus more on our communication about sustainability. We already took various steps on this last year. You can read more about this on our website. We also want to improve pension awareness yet further and provide people with more insight into the financial risks and consequences of the years without indexation and about reduced pension accrual. For example, we’ll be expanding ‘My PDN Pension’ to make it more customer-friendly and we’re also starting a financial planner.’ To be continued, then....!