Employer organisations and unions need to stop using industry super fund trustee boards as retirement homes, according to Australian Workers Union federal secretary Paul Howes.

Howes told the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds in Brisbane that membership of a trustee board should not be regarded as a retirement sinecure.

He said that, instead, funds needed to take a more professional approach and seek to attract the right types of expertise. Howes said super was simply too important to be regarded as a retirement past time.

"We need to find ways to attract the right people and retain them," he said.