I’m serving up a dish which may have gone cold in your inbox or may not have reached you at all.

Personally I’m not concerned about opt-out rates, even if they crept above the 9% generally advertised. That Ceridian clients have low opt-out rates may have a lot to do that Ceridian clients pay a decent whack to have things done properly. Companies who cut corners don’t do things the Ceridian way and are probably less careful with their staff.

I am quite sure there is a correlation between the value placed on workplace pensions by the sponsor and the engagement with that pension by the employee.

Which means we should be tipping our hat to Ceridian who have done more than most to make auto-enrolment work. Not for nothing are they expanding, they treat their staff fairly, their customers fairly and they are a font of wisdom on all things payroll.

Here are their findings after analysing 250k employees enrolled on their software, that’s approximately 10% of the market so a significant sector. This is real world economics and I’m in.

Detailed analysis by Ceridian, one of the UK’s leading HCM technology and service providers, of 244,061 auto enrolment records across 77 organisations reveals overall opt-out rates of only 5.4 per cent with opt-out rates among the young the lowest.

Melissa Goddard, director of pension solutions, at Ceridian UK said: “The overall opt-out rates across a large and representative sample of organisations have shown opt-out rates lower that most quoted averages. Furthermore, there is little difference in opt-out rates between any age groups up to 50. These average around four per cent but then rise to seven per cent for the 50 to 60 age group and then, rather unsurprisingly, rise sharply to 19 per cent for the over 60s. The opt-out rate for the under 25s is the lowest of all the groups at just 3.8 per cent, backing up what Steve Webb MP, Minister for Pensions, announced at our recent customer conference.

“Opt-out rates among females are less than males. And our analysis by different industry sectors shows that the lowest opt out rates are in industry sectors that have lower paid workers. Interestingly, the TV advert for automatic enrolment featured certain industry sectors that have some of the lowest opt out rates, such as construction and manufacturing, so maybe the advert resonated with them.”

Opt-out Rates, by Age

Age Band Opt-out %

<30 4.1

30> – <40 4.1

40> – <50 3.9

50> – <60 6.6

60> 18.7

<25 3.8

Opt-out Rates, by Gender

Gender Opt-out %

Female 5.1

Male 5.6

While Ceridian works its butt off , to make pensions work in the UK, here is a heartwarming excerpt from an interview with Philippe Marchessaux, CEO of BNP Paribas asset management, in today’s FT

Now he says many of the company’s new employees hail from the ranks of investment bankers disillusioned by the sector’s increasingly harsh pay restrictions and challenged business model.

Perks in the asset management industry are not too bad either. To help employees relax in the midst of the restructure, Mr Marchessaux takes staff on away days to the south of France, where he grew up.

“If we can bring some sun and blue skies to people in Marseille or Nice, there is no guarantee, but you can really perform,” he says.

Bless asset managers for this philanthropic rehabilitation!

It’s people like Ms Goddard and Mr Parsons of  Ceridian that keep me in love with my job, but if I am ever to work with Mr Marchessaux -I’m out.

This article first appeared in http://www.pensionplaypen.com