A SMARTER WAY OF PROVIDING FINANCIAL EDUCATION FOR JOHN LEWIS PARTNERS

Giving Partners the tools and the confidence so they think: John Lewis before Martin Lewis when it comes to their money matters.

CHALLENGE

As John Lewis & Partners moved their Partners from a defined benefit pension (DB) to a defined contributions (DC) scheme, they came to blue goose to help communicate the shift as part of a broader programme of financial education and a redefinition of the Partner ‘deal’ with the evolution of their business.

The brief was borne of a realisation that previous communication efforts hadn’t quite satisfied their many sites, functions and cultures, and that many Partners perceived the pension change as part of an ongoing deterioration in benefits.
John Lewis financial wellbeing employee campaign

Solution

In response to this, we created ‘Smarter Money’, a financial education programme to provide simple, responsive financial assistance for all Partners, and a shot in the arm to JLP’s benefits package. As part of the offering, JLP partnered with tech and financial specialists nudge to provide online financial information.

The programme was launched with an advertising campaign in the Partner magazine, The Gazette, followed by a workbook-style mailer to all 80,000 Partners, to provide clear, accessible guidance and promote the responsive nudge tool. Smarter Money Talks were introduced to provide Partners with more information around pensions and pose questions.

This is an ongoing programme and will continue to evolve and cover other financial topics, however results are looking positive. Partners don’t look to Martin Lewis for financial support but Smarter Money from John.
John Lewis financial wellbeing employee campaign

IMPACT

The number of visits to the pensions area of the Partner Intranet doubled to 33,000 in the month following Smarter Money’s soft launch.

One year on, a survey of Partners told us that 85% would visit the Partner Intranet first to find out information about managing their personal finances; while 66% of said they felt ‘moderately’ to ‘extremely’ comfortable in managing their finances on a day-to-day basis.

The language is pretty damn perfect for all Partners; they are finding it very easy to understand. Just pass on my appreciation (and that of the Partners I have met so far). Excellent work all round... PARTNER AND PARTNERSHIP COUNCILLOR'S COMMENTS ON THE PENSIONS WORKBOOK MAILER