Australian Ethical, Spirit Super, and Aware Super have partnered with HR platform Employment Hero for a new feature that allows employees to interact more with their superannuation and allow funds to deliver value in real time.
The new feature of Embedded Super aims to encourage engagement, empowerment, and education of over 1 million employees on the platform about their super fund details, balance, choices, and more.
It is expected to particularly assist disengaged young Australians in paying attention to their nest egg and women employees, who retire with over $135,000 less super than men on average.
Ben Thompson, founder and chief executive of Employment Hero, described it as a “no-brainer” to embed super into its platform, in line with modern ways Aussies prefer to interact with financial products.
“For the many young Australians, who make up the bulk of our workforce, super is out of sight and out of mind. It’s overwhelmingly clear that many don’t understand it, don’t know how to optimise it and deprioritise it, given they can’t access it for 30–40 years,” Thompson said.
He highlighted that today’s workforce has struggled to engage with a super system that hasn’t advanced much since it was built 30 years ago.
Recent research indicated only 26 per cent percent of Australians know their exact super balance and regularly monitor its performance.
Additionally, just over half (52 per cent) of Australians with lower personal wealth interact with their super more than once a year.
Super funds will now have the ability to receive updates on and communicate with members at key moments of their working life, such as when they go on maternity leave or change jobs, through Embedded Super.
They will be able support members and deliver value in real time, such as offering in-app insights, advice, or tailored options; a crucial value-add given just one year of parental leave and working a four-day week for the first two years of a child’s life could cost women $39,500 in lost super, according to research.
Thompson added: “Super funds, for example, are mostly unaware when employees take parental leave and may miss the opportunity to support. Employer contributions simply stop and there is no further engagement with the member.
“Super embedded in an HR platform could negate this issue by sending a notification to the fund when a person applies for parental leave, giving them the opportunity to confirm and communicate any loose ends.
“Not only will this initiative drive benefits for the everyday employee, we believe it could make a dent in closing the gender super gap by opening lines of communication between members and their funds.”
Steve Travis, group executive growth at Aware Super, noted members have displayed high engagement with their fund, as seen through usage of Aware’s online member portal and app.
“Where Employment Hero helps is for those thousands of members who have got other priorities in their life right now, and where it makes sense to engage with their super in the same way they do their regular pay slips and other interactions with their employer,” he said.
