Tips for women to redress the super balance gap

If you’re working in HR, you’re likely to be hiring a diverse range of employees from different walks of life and lived experiences, both male and female.

You’ll be well aware of the gender pay gap (which currently sits at 14.1 per cent in Australia) and are likely to be taking the steps required to help redress the imbalance in salary between men and women.

However, one area where employers may feel they have no control (if they only make standard contributions) is in the growth of their employees’ superannuation, which is just as important for women to keep in mind when planning for the future.

There are many factors at play here. For one, women exiting the workforce for childrearing can not only put themselves on the back foot in terms of their earnings compared to men (although employers are now increasingly offering more sufficient paid parental leave), but also their super.

This, on top of other factors, can result in women feeling less confident that they’ll have enough saved up for retirement by the age of 65 – a finding backed up by a recent survey.

In the study, only 24 per cent of women reported a balance of $100,000 or more, compared to 44 per cent of men. Forty-five per cent of women currently have $50,000 or less in their super, which is also notably higher than the numbers for men (32 per cent).

While HR professionals won’t be able to influence what has happened in their new employees’ past, you can have a hand in shaping their future.

These are some of the ideas you can suggest to women to boost their super balance and close the gap:

Encourage voluntary contributions (no matter how small)

First and foremost, one of the simplest pointers you can give women for growing their super is that making additional payments on top of employer contributions is well worth their while.

You don’t have to be working to do so, either. If a particular worker finds herself in between jobs or taking paid or unpaid parental leave at some point in the future, she’ll still be able to make contributions to ensure her super continues to grow.

Implore them to consolidate their super

Employees may have multiple super accounts stemming from past employment. For those who find themselves in this position, however, it’s crucial to make sure they consolidate them into one account.

More than one super account means they’ll be paying double the fees (or more) than they otherwise would be. Additionally, in the likely event one or more of their accounts is currently unused, they could be actively losing money by not consolidating them.

Get them to compare super funds carefully

Each super fund will have its own set of pros and cons, which are important for workers to take note of. However, performance and fees will be two of the bigger influences on the growth of super across a woman’s working life.

It’s worth encouraging women to analyse how different funds have performed over the past few years and the areas in which they’re investing. Additionally, ensure they read the fine print thoroughly and consider how much of their hard-earned savings will end up in the pocket of their super fund.

Explain salary sacrificing as an option

Salary sacrificing is another option for those who wish to invest further in their future without having to manually make regular contributions. This involves employers withholding part of their workers’ pre-tax income and paying it into their super instead.

For those in a position to do so, you may wish to suggest that they salary sacrifice a small percentage of their income and voluntarily contribute further funds each month.

Adrian Edlington, Savvy

Note from the editor: please note that this article has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as advice.