Phoenix Group is now offering a ‘midlife MOT’ to all employees within 10 years of retirement.
This health and wealth check — which has been promoted by the Department of Work and Pension — will help individuals evaluate current work and pension prospects, alongside health and wellbeing issues, with recommendations being offered for improvement where needed.
As part of this initiative Phoenix employees can attend and an in-person workshop and will receive digital assessment tools to help them understand their whether they are on track to meet their longer term work, life and financial goals. Phoenix Group said it will offer tips, resources and support to help people make better decisions around their money and their health.
Phoenix Group has also published a report evaluating the group’s pilot which offers new data on how these MOTs have been used by workers to plan for their future.
The report is published by Phoenix Insights, the group’s longevity think tank. Key findings include:
- Over 340 employees aged 40 and over took part in the pilot programme, with over 90 per cent inspired by the MOT to make the positive changes recommended for their finances, health, and work as a direct result. Actions ranged from addressing a long-term health issue for the first time, seeking higher education opportunities through to deciding to transfer additional funds into their pension pot.
- While the process can help to build confidence and encourage people to think holistically about their future needs beyond just financial planning, it can still be difficult engaging with specific actions. People often find that being too busy, or feeling that retirement is a long way away can be barriers to making changes, further highlighting the importance of opportunities to prompt thinking about the future such as Midlife MOTs.
To help ensure more people benefit from a Midlife MOTs, Phoenix Insights is calling for continued government promotion to encourage wider adoption of Midlife MOTs, and have published a separate MOT development guide to enable employers to share their insights. Both publications highlight the importance of designing services that encourage long-term behaviour change and meeting diverse individual needs.
Phoenix Group chief HR and premises officer Sara Thompson says: “The desire to stay in meaningful work for longer is already important to many people. The Midlife MOT is a key tool for people to help them start thinking differently and more holistically, about the key areas of wealth, work and wellbeing, so that they can make the best decisions for them as they look towards later life.”
Minister for Employment Guy Opperman adds welcomed the fact that Phoenix Group was the latest employer to offer staff a Midlife MOT saying evidence suggests that outcomes from this process “can be transformational.”