Jo Smeed, Occupational Pension & Savings Executive, Sovereign Pension Services (CI) Ltd
I accidentally fell into pensions. I’d travelled the world for 5 years and arrived in Guernsey and a friend asked me to join the Generali international pension team, and I thought, why not? The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve always been a people person, and pensions is a people business, so it all worked out in the end.
I love what I do. Growing the business, working with great people and I’m passionate about helping our clients meet their objectives. Whether that be an employer wanting to attract and retain staff or an employee wanting an easy way to save for their future.
Those earlier years of adventure have been invaluable as they gave me a good understanding of life and challenges in various countries. I have an international mindset, I gained confidence, honed my communication skills and that helps me connect with our global client base. I still get to travel and to talk and help people. I find it rewarding, as we provide an important service and I feel we’re making a difference, so I am lucky.
Believe it or not, pension and savings is a creative space to be and with digital innovation, the longevity crisis and globalisation, it’s exciting too!
- With 30 years in the occupational pensions world, you’ve seen it all! What are some of the biggest changes you’ve witnessed, and what do you think the future holds for pensions?
What a change there’s been! Back in the day, an international pension was only used by large multi-nationals in sectors such as Pharma, oil and gas and quasi-governmental organisations/NGOs. Employers had pension departments embedded within their “Personnel” teams as it used to be called back then. Everything was done either by post, fax or landline.
For an employee, their pension was a distant thing, where they probably got a pension statement through the post to their “home country” address that they rarely visited. The statement was complicated, and a lot of people would just ignore it. Employees stayed for the majority of their career with the same employer. There was minimal pension education or engagement as it was a paternal mindset where governments and employers would provide.
Move forward to now and everything has changed. With globalisation we’re seeing any size of employer that could have either a cross-border operation or international staff. The sector spectrum is much wider including medical, tech, renewable energy and international schools to name but a few. Personnel became HR and the teams shrunk, and policies and people’s needs became a lot more complicated.
Millennials and Gen Zs fill the workforce, and they are more vocal in their expectations. They are also likely to have multiple employers and industry variance over their career and work in more than one country in their lifetime.
Employers are now looking for pension and savings providers to fill the void of their smaller HR teams and provide the experience and expertise to help them meet their challenges. They expect robust administration as a given and are looking for simple, transparent and easy servicing and economies of scale. They also want staff engagement taken off their hands.
Employees are more aware. They expect online servicing and information so they can self-serve. They want engaging content, easy to find and digest so they can research and get what they need when they want it. They will only really contact a provider if they have to.
I’ve lived that evolutionary journey and it’s been fascinating. I’ve seen the needs, expectations and servicing change. I am even more excited for the future, as pension auto-enrolment spreads over the world, technology innovation cycles get shorter, and people’s expectations continue to change.
It’s going to be a major shift for the industry. I am focused on keeping us up with, and hopefully ahead of the curve, with people looking at our service as best in class, with a personality and a deep understanding of people. I want us to set the tone.
It is still a people business, but it will be who can keep up, adapt and deliver, that will succeed.
- You’ve worked with employers of all sizes and sectors, from not-for-profits to large organisations. What’s your approach to helping them find the right pension/savings solutions for their unique needs?
Within the international space, I carry out a discovery session. Normally remotely, but with Teams/Zoom, cameras on so you can really connect. Remember, it’s a people business. The client organisation culture will set the tone, and I’ll adapt accordingly.
I’ve normally already got a picture of the strategic need however I like to engage with the people at the “coal face” to understand their challenges, learn more about the population in question, their contract terms and also about the company expectations for growth and country footprint in the medium term. All of that information will feed into the final solution.
A lot of the time employers know they have an issue, or that they have to do something, but are not really sure what. I find that by talking through the discovery process, it helps the client look at it holistically and really capture all their thoughts and requirements.
Our service is a set of building blocks that we have at our disposal and with experience and expertise it allows us to build the optimum solution to meet the client’s need. We can also future proof it, once we understand their potential medium to long-term goals so that they can bolt on (or remove) structure easily and gain greater efficiency and economies of scale.
It is very much a partnership as you are going to work together potentially for decades. I’ve known clients that have started with 60 international employees via a central payroll and 10 years later have grown to over 2,000 employees, local and international split between several countries and payrolls. Needs are constantly changing and that is the joy and the creative side of the business.
- Your Island Pension (YIP) has been a real game-changer for Guernsey. How has it been received so far, and what impact do you think it will have on the local community?
It has been an interesting journey to deliver a solution that is simple, easy and affordable to a community where 60% of the working population has not been saving for their retirement. Consequently, understanding the audience, education and communication have been key.
It was important to get out into the community and chat to people. Whether that was drop-in sessions for employers or employee sessions in pre-schools, builders’ yards or garages.
It is a historic shift for the island, and it was important to take everyone on the journey and not leave anyone behind. Delivering YIP will help our community to prevent pensioner poverty and allow people to have more freedom and choice when they retire.
For our children and grandchildren, as soon as they join the workforce, they will automatically start saving and that will super charge their retirement fund.
Interestingly, when the government delayed the launch from January 24 to July 24 there was an outcry locally. Most people know they need to do something. They just needed the push.
YIP has been very well received in Guernsey and our recent survey results stated 95% of our YIP clients said they would recommend YIP to others.
I am immensely proud of what our team has achieved, and it will be nice to look back in 20 years’ time and think, yes, I helped with that!
- Navigating pensions can feel overwhelming for many employers and employees. How do you make it easier for them to understand and feel confident about their choices?
Active listening and communication are key. Employers are relying on you to be the expert and guide them accordingly, so you really need a deep understanding of what they need.
People engage and digest information in different ways and there is variation between an international message and a domestic approved pension message, such as Your Island Pension. You need to understand your audience to connect effectively and get the message across.
For employee presentations, where appropriate, I find humour a useful tool. Getting people to relax, they absorb more and will feel comfortable asking questions.
Plan populations can be made up of different generations, nationalities and levels of knowledge so it’s about providing engaging content at different levels so everyone can find their level and feel at ease.
For instance, with YIP, on the employee Knowledge Hub we start with foundational information such as “what is a pension” and “What happens if I die”. For employers we provide PDF and videos servicing tutorials, so they can choose what works best for them. We also worked with the Guernsey Disability officer to ensure all in the Guernsey working community are catered for.
- Sovereign operates in over 20 countries, but your role is based in Guernsey. How does being part of a global organisation help you deliver tailored solutions?
One of the reasons that I joined Sovereign is that it has the perfect global footprint for international occupational business. Although I am based in Guernsey, our marketplace is global.
Sovereign is perfectly placed to benefit as countries start putting in mandatory domestic occupational pensions (autoenrollment) and are also situated within exciting and developing markets and locations with expatriate concentrations.
It’s a very powerful message to have experience and expertise in a relatively niche business line, a paperless administration system and a global footprint where we have boots on the ground and understand the local markets.
