MARITIME employers are seriously underestimating the importance of pensions to their staff and could lose out in the war for talent as a result, according to a survey from pensions provider Ensign.

Its survey of 44 UK maritime businesses found an “alarming disconnect” between the importance employers and employees attach to pensions. It means maritime employers could be losing out in the battle to attract quality staff.

More than half of employers regard pensions as only a “moderately” or “not very” important part of employee benefits package, whereas more than 80% of their workers regard pensions as “very important”.

“The biggest human resources challenge for respondents was identified as the attraction and retention of staff,” Ensign Pension Fund marketing director Jemima FitzMorris said. “But they are completely underestimating the value employees are putting on pensions as part as their overall package. This suggests employers are seriously underestimating the importance of pensions and could lose out as a result.”

Symptomatic of employers’ complacency over pensions is the fact that only 7% of employers review the performance of their pension provider more than once a year, while twice that proportion “do not review” at all.

The report’s authors found this complacency surprising, given that one in three employers expect the cost of providing pensions to increase in the next 12 months, with only 7% expecting it to decrease.

The report found that there is a crucial role for employers to help build financial awareness among staff to allow them to make the most of their pension scheme and to plan for the future.

The survey was open to all UK maritime businesses and received a total of 131 respondents (87 employees and 44 employers).