Research and Statistics

Understanding why some employees don't participate in employer pension schemes

by Suzanne Hall and Wendy Floyd

This report presents findings from qualitative case study research aimed at exploring and understanding reasons for non-participation in pension schemes where there was a three per cent or more employer contribution. Fifty-one face-to-face interviews were conducted with employees and 17 with employers from nine companies across a range of locations, industry sectors and sizes. Fieldwork took place between January and May 2008.

The key objective of this research was to identify reasons employees gave for not participating in their company pension scheme. Other objectives were to understand how employees had made choices about joining the scheme; to assess whether employees had engaged with the information provided on the scheme and made informed decisions; and examine the extent to which information was used by employees. Additional research with employers was conducted to explore if the reasons they thought employees did not participate were similar to those given by their employees.

March 2009 88 pages 297x210mm

ISBN 978-1-84712-513-2

 

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