Desjardins Group unit uses multimedia to smooth retirement planning

From serious games to self-serve portals, corporate Canada is increasingly making use of interactive media to educate and inform employees and customers alike. But Desjardins Financial Security is using it as a tool to help workforces at the corporate clients it serves adequately plan for retirement – and stay out of court in the bargain. The Lévis QC-based firm, a unit of the Desjardins Group, recently rolled out a multimedia retirement planning guide incorporating an interactive Flash-based CD-ROM and a DVD as well as traditional paper-based information. The guide, called Enrolment at Home, is part of a broader program called Setting Sail for the Future aimed at ensuring members of corporate retirement programs known as capital accumulation plans (CAPs) have all the information they need to plan for their post-work years. "Surveys that only 50% of the people really have a plan retirement, and out of these 50% only about one in two really follow their plan," says Eric Filion, senior director of product development and marketing at Desjardins Financial Security. In May 2004, a coalition of financial regulators issued a new framework for CAPs – a category that includes defined contribution pension plans, group RRSPs and other programs where individual employees have final say over how their money is invested. The new framework opened the door for a potential lose-lose situation for many corporations offering such programs: provide too much advice and they could find themselves in court should the recommended investments underperform; provide too little advice and run the risk of legal action for not providing the necessary information. The CD-ROM component of Enrolment at Home attempts to avoid the latter by including a questionnaire aimed at helping users decide on an appropriate asset allocation. By answering the questions and reading the supporting material, CAP members should have a sense of which investments best suit their circumstances. "We needed people to more aware of their responsibilities and...what they need to know about their retirement and really act on it," Filion says. "I think that’s where I think the multimedia package really comes into play, make sure people act on what we them." The material was totally developed in-house at Desjardins Financial Security by an advertising creative team, and won the Best of Show award at the 2005 Insurance and Financial Communicators Association conference in San Francisco last year. While many employers also hold sessions during business hours to educate employees on their role in planning for their retirement, the Enrolment at Home component is designed to let staff learn about the plan on their own time; it’s also useful when employees join between the in-house education sessions, Filion says. "Some people, you tell them…they act on it," he says. "Some people, they get back home, take time to understand what we’re talking about, take time to ask some more questions, test out different scenarios." With other research from Desjardins Financial Security showing that one in five Canadians enrolled in CAP programs will run out of money during their retirement, Filion says it’s imperative that plan members get the necessary information without jeopardizing the employer. So far, he adds, the results have been encouraging: feedback from the first stage of "Setting Sail for the Future" has indicated that 80% of employees chose an investment portfolio that complied with standard industry asset mixes for their age and status. "I think for the sponsor, for CAP guideline compliance, it’s really reassuring that the tool is effective," he says.

Desjardins Group unit uses multimedia to smooth retirement planning

News | 04/17/2006 4:00 am EDT

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