A new generation is beginning to save into pensions, and schemes need to understand who they are and what they need.
In February 2023 a Private Members’ Bill appeared in the House of Commons. It proposed to extend the age of pensions automatic enrolment to age 18 and to remove band earnings, so that pension contributions would count from the first pound earned. That Bill is well on its way to being enshrined in law. And while it’s been making its way through Parliament, Quietroom’s been doing some thinking around what this means for pension communications.
This piece brings together some of what we’ve found so far.
Up until now, no one has seriously considered communicating about pensions with the age group that will be affected. It’s possible they won’t have even heard of a pension. And yet, at some point in the future, they will part with some of their hard-earned cash, possibly still not really knowing what a pension is or how it works.
In May 2023, I wrote about exactly this in Corporate Adviser.
Who are Gen Z?
Gen Z were born in the late ‘90s to early 2010s. They’re ‘digital natives’, so they’ve only ever known a world with readily available wifi, smartphones and social media. They’re more likely to distrust big brands, and to be more conscious of social justice, as well as their impact on the planet. And they tend to source their information from influencers and from social media rather than institutions and traditional media.
Learning more about Gen Z
An excellent report, created by the strategic insights consultancy Flamingo noted that Gen Z “are simultaneously more exposed to the failures of traditional authority than ever, and more equipped than ever with tools to respond to it, to challenge it, and to make it work for them.” In short, they are a group deserving of some serious thought.
Fresh thinking from the Royal College of Art (RCA)
We were lucky enough to play a small part in some excellent thinking in this space. The RCA invited us to advise some of their Design Thinking Masters students on what it would mean to reinvent retirement for Gen Z. Through their excellent work, Akriti Sharma and Sarah Riley researched Gen Z, their attitudes to retirement, what already exists in this space and what needs to change if we are to make retirement work for Gen Z.
They created several very impressive prototypes that looked at creating savings pots through an app. The app employed AI and behavioural nudges to get your ‘future self’ to give you advice on your current spending habits. You could choose the kind of future self that you wanted in your app – whether that was scolding or encouraging, for instance.
They created several very impressive prototypes that looked at creating savings pots through an app. The app employed AI and behavioural nudges to get your ‘future self’ to give you advice on your current spending habits. You could choose the kind of future self that you wanted in your app – whether that was scolding or encouraging, for instance.
They also looked at creating a ‘Reflection Year’ savings card, where you could create a ‘flexible pension fund’ to take a mini retirement. Based on the fact that many Gen Z don’t believe that they will retire, and are fuelled by very conscious passion projects, they proposed that the idea of ‘mini retirements’ along the way might appeal more to Gen Z. It’s an idea that chimes with Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton’s ‘100 year life’ and could embed the habit of saving while making savings seem more tangible.
Akriti and Sarah also created a charming set of cards called ‘Three things to talk about: Money, politics and religion’. Historically these are topics that people find uncomfortable talking about. Akriti and Sarah concentrated their efforts on the theme of money for this prototype, framing questions that would get people talking about topics that may be considered taboo. The questions ranged from things like ‘reflect on a mistake you’ve made with money’ and ‘what was the hardest point in your life financially?’ to ‘what do you wish you knew about money?’ and ‘what do you spend money on that brings you joy?’
You can still watch the webinar. It’s thought-provoking, impressive and is, to date, our highest ever attended webinar.
Getting key insights from the Gen Z experts
We also held an online session with the brilliant Amy Clamp of Beatfreeks – an insight-led engagement agency specialising in scaling relevance with young and diverse audiences. Amy talked us through the common misconceptions surrounding Gen Z. The fact that everyone believes that they shared their beliefs when they were that age, and that they were more preoccupied with ideas of equity, social conscience and social responsibility.
Beetfreaks address this by co-creating content with Gen Z – given that they are the ones who will be receiving the content. And they invest heavily in research publishing quarterly research via National Youth Trends. You can hear more about Beatfreeks and their excellent work by watching our webinar.
What’s next for Gen Z?
Whatever you think you know about Gen Z, this generation are not like those who went before them.
They have access to all kinds of information that older generations didn’t. They exist in a digitally native, post-truth world. And they are inheriting an economy and planet that has problems that generations before didn’t have.
Quietroom is going one step further on our journey to understanding Gen Z – gathering insights from 16 year olds ourselves. Given that they might be the first cohort to be automatically enrolled at 18, it seems only right that we ask them what they think. We’ll have some exciting content to share soon.
But in the meantime, if you haven’t started thinking about how to talk to Gen Z, the time is now. And if I was you, rather than going on assumptions, I’d ask them yourself. You might be surprised at what they have to say.
