Creative agency Mother London moves employee pension funds into responsible investments
7th December 2020
Voted advertising agency of the decade in 2009, Mother London has been on an uphill trajectory since it launched in 1996 with Channel 5 as its first client. Since then, it has added brands like IKEA, Samsung, Uber Eats and Greenpeace to its campaign portfolio.
Its driving principles are based on the company’s ‘holy trinity’: do the best work they possibly can, have fun, and make a living. And, to keep its team engaged and motivated, Mother’s industry-leading employee benefits package is constantly being reviewed, with the latest change being to move the company’s pension scheme to responsible investments that do not fuel harmful industries like fossil fuels, deforestation, gambling, tobacco, or arms.
The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Rollo Price, says the idea came from one of the agency’s founding partners, and adds: “No one is blind to the way the world is moving, or to the pressures on businesses and individuals to make the right ethical decisions.”
But, Price emphasises that the company’s duty was, first and foremost, to its employees and their retirement savings. “Our biggest concerns were around performance and tariffs," he says. "I was under the illusion that traditional funds outweighed responsible funds on performance – so we asked the employee benefits team at Connor Broadley to look into it for us.
“They came back with a simple presentation which showed, in real terms, how these funds have performed historically. It clearly showed sustained outperformance outweighing the higher tariffs so, in the end, it was a fairly easy decision.”
New research by Interactive Investor found that 36% of pension savers, although not currently investing ethically, would like to be able to do so. Younger people were most keen on it, with 61% of those aged between 18 and 23, and 59% of those aged 24 to 29, expressing interest. It’s also more popular among women, with 42% of women stating that they would like to be able to invest ethically, compared to 32% of men.
Price says his agency’s benefits package plays a huge part in the company’s industry-bucking staff retention figures. “In a normal year, our staff turnover is around 15%, compared to the advertising sector average of 30%. We’re really proud of that,” he says.
Mother is now considering how best to communicate the change internally. Of course, making the subject of pensions interesting has long been a struggle, but the company will use imagery showing the strong performance of the funds it has chosen. And, although responsible investments will be the company’s default, it will offer employees a choice of where their retirement savings are held.
Matt Law, Corporate Consultant at Connor Broadley, which is behind the redesign of Mother London’s pension scheme and its benefits package, suspects that responsible investments may well ignite curiosity in pensions like never before.
He says: “Historically, people under a certain age have tended to switch off when they hear the P word, but times are changing. People are now increasingly wise to their impact on the earth and looking for new ways to reduce their personal burden. So, I think that responsible funds could be the way to make investing and pensions attractive to more people. Given the sustained performance of some of these funds, they can be a win-win for investing retirement savings.”
And awareness is likely to grow with celebrity backing. This summer, film director Richard Curtis launched a campaign called Make My Money Matter, which calls for the £3 trillion invested in UK pensions to be invested ethically. It claims that moving to a more sustainable fund can have 27 times as much impact in reducing your carbon footprint than giving up flying and going vegan combined.
Talk to the friendly team at Connor Broadley to find out more about how company pension schemes can be invested more responsibly. You can reach us on: TeamBC@connorbroadley.co.uk
