Description of the programme

In 2018 Nest Insight announced its sidecar savings research programme looking at ways to support emergency saving alongside retirement saving. As part of this programme, Nest Insight and partners are conducting a trial which aims to test the effectiveness and impact of a hybrid workplace savings tool called Jars, which combines short- and long-term savings goals. From January 2021, all participating employers will have implemented the Jars tool. Data will be gathered from that point for two years - this will form the basis of the final programme evaluation.

The study

This report is the second of three planned briefing papers. This paper explores some of the early learnings and emerging insights about the employer experience of offering a sidecar savings tool to their employees. The paper considers:

• The context to the roll-out of Jars
• Employer responses to the Jars concept and design
• Employer decision-making around offering Jars
• Implementation of Jars and employee engagement
• Optimising sidecar savings for employers

The learnings in this paper are drawn from 18 online or telephone qualitative research interviews conducted by researchers from BritainThinks, an independent research agency, from July through September 2020. Participants included:Representatives of employers who have launched or plan to launch Jars with their employees

• Representatives of employers who considered launching Jars but have not yet done so, or decided not to
• Provider stakeholders who have worked with employers to set up and promote Jars, such as representatives from Salary Finance, which provides the Jars tool, Yorkshire Building Society, which provides the instant access savings account, and Nest, which provides one of the workplace pensions involved in the trial.

Key findings

The authors developed learnings under three headings:

• • Employer support for the concept of a hybrid workplace savings tool is high.
  • Jars is primarily viewed by employers as a way to support employees to save and build up an emergency savings buffer.
  • Employers feel the salary deduction mechanism is, in principle, a very effective way to initiate a savings habit.
  • But there is some concern around whether the mechanisms will be enough to overcome the barriers to saving.
• • An organisation’s existing culture is an important driver for offering a hybrid workplace savings tool.
  • Supporting employees with their financial wellbeing is felt to demonstrate that an employer is responsible and forward-thinking.
  • Some employers cited concerns about the resource requirement or timing of implementation as barriers to offering Jars.
  • Employers don’t necessarily feel qualified to evaluate Jars.
  • The pilot Jars design is currently compatible only with ‘relief at source’ workplace pension schemes
• • The employer implementation experience is no more complex than implementing other benefits.
  • Building employee engagement requires timely, multi-channel and frequent communications.

Points to consider

• The trial is at the beginning, so the learnings are early stage and indicative.
  • The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the rollout of the tool.
• The report is specific to this trial tool but there are learnings about implementing workplace benefits that may have wider application.
• The report deals with an ongoing trial into improving emergency liquid savings, which is highly relevant as these are lacking in a high proportion of UK households.
  • The report is applicable primarily to trial partners, but would also be of interest to anyone involved in pension provision, savings product, or in helping increase savings, such as such as government, support agencies, policy makers, policy implementers or regulators.