The big sell: How to attract new trustees to a scheme

Many organisations are balancing legacy defined benefit schemes, as well as defined contribution and auto-enrolment offerings.

This, combined with a frequently shifting policy environment, has led to the creation of the 'trustee knowledge and understanding' code of practice from the Pensions Regulator, which outlines the scope of trustees' role.

So given the growing challenges faced by trustees, how can schemes attract high-quality people to stand in elections?

Taking it personally

Alan Gander, member-nominated trustee at the Lend Lease pension scheme, said he initially became interested in the scheme when he began to realise his pot was one of the largest assets he had, later finding an error in the size of his contributions over a year by reading an annual statement.

A few years afterwards it was suggested to him by colleagues he should consider becoming a trustee.

I had a pension I knew nothing about. I had personal interest. That should be a driving force

Alan Gander, Lendlease Pension Scheme

Gander said schemes should emphasise the personal impact of pensions on individuals to increase interest.

“I had a pension I knew nothing about,” he said. “I had personal interest. That should be a driving force.”

He added that working as a trustee appealed to his intellectual curiosity, as the role encompasses many topics from investment to administration.

However, Roger Mattingly, director at professional trustee company Pan Trustees, said: “It’s increasingly difficult… getting that balance between communicating the duties and responsibilities without scaring the life out of [members].”

This can be exacerbated, Mattingly added, by an elitist culture within some boards.

“There are boards that don’t treat trustees particularly well,” he said. “There’s an arrogant culture within those boards. Everyone should be treated with respect and boards should be welcoming.”

Mattingly said one way to combat this is to foster a culture of “intelligent naivety”, where intelligent but as yet unknowledgeable new trustees are encouraged to question the basic assumptions in a scheme, such as its allocation to equities, forcing advisers to explain.

“Good advisers are able to simplify it. Those that overcomplicate it are often the ones who deep down don’t know what they’re doing,” he said.

Softly, softly

Giles Payne, director at professional trustee company HR Trustees, said a scheme he works with had received seven applications for a recent trustee position, where before it had struggled to attract interest.

“The way we achieved that was not to make it too threatening to start with,” he said.

The scheme made it easy for members to register interest, before arranging phone calls with potential candidates to discuss the role. At the same time, a trustee in the scheme approached and spoke with suitable members.

Candidates were then required to submit a 250-word personal statement, with the scheme now entering final interviews.

Schemes can also stress the value of trusteeship to wider career development, giving junior employees experience of board settings and the skills needed to run large organisations and make big decisions.

Payne said on a particular scheme, “one of the company-nominated trustees is one of the high-flyers within the company”.

He added the role would benefit both the trustee and scheme more widely: “It will give her experience of boards and will give the board energy and diversity. It [can] help upcoming people within the organisation to see the complexity and nuances.”