Abstract
Abstract : According to Van der Waldt and Van Heerden (2007:16), an individual's pension saving is often the biggest investment they will ever make in their life, therefore, it is necessary that they be adequately informed about all the issues which might affect their life-long savings and retirement outcomes. Despite being one of the largest and most important investments that people should make in their life, pensions are shrouded by negative perception and as a result, pension funds bear the brunt of member mistrust, apathy and disengagement (Day, 2016). In turn, this negative image influences the decisions that people make about their saving towards retirement. This presents a daunting task for pension funds - that is, to cut through the inertia and cultivate positive experiences for members to make better financial decisions about retirement. Part of the process of helping pension fund members to make better decisions about their retirement is vested in the function of communication and the impetus is on those whose duty it is to communicate with members, to do so to the best of their ability. In the same breath, it is equally important for those tasked with this responsibility of “communication for and on behalf of the pension fund” to truly understand the magnitude of the responsibility and to deliver on this magnificent mandate. Given this responsibility, the study sought to probe into the various complexities that inform the communication practices of a select group of South African pension funds. Taking theoretical grounding in the domain of Strategic Communication, the study undertook a mixed method approach comprising of quantitative and qualitative aspects in the data collection process. The data was collected in two phases, the first phase entailed conducting semi-structured interviews with select subject matter experts in the pension funds industry (for the qualitative aspect) and this was seconded by online surveys which were sent to Trustees of select South African pension funds (to satisfy the requirements for the qualitative aspect). The findings of the research indicate that effective communication between pension funds and their members are critical in order to empower members to have a better understanding of matters which affect their retirement so that they can make informed decisions about these independently. It was also found that one of the main reasons for member apathy is that the average member finds it difficult to understand their retirement benefits and investments. The research further indicates that pension funds strive to go beyond the minimum requirements when it comes to communication, to help members along their journey to retirement. On the things that pension funds are seemingly doing well in terms of communication, it was found that there are select funds that are going beyond the minimum...
M.A. (Communication Studies)