Mark Williamson is the Benefits Manager at New Zealand Defence Force
Tell us about your role as Benefits Manager at the New Zealand Defence Force and what got you into it.
As Benefits Manager I manage the Force Financial Hub (FFH), which is aimed at building the long term financial resilience of Defence community members. Benefits provided through the FFH include the NZDF KiwiSaver Scheme, comprehensive insurances, a financial advice and mortgage broker service, free Wills service; and of course a suite of financial capability programmes provided by the Retirement Commission. I have been with NZDF since Nov 2005, initially employed as employment relations manager for 2900 civilian employees. Over the years my focus shifted to retirement savings and insurances and I was appointed Benefits Manager in 2016. Now, FFH benefits are provided to 15,500 members and their families, as well as to former members and Veterans. I love my job. My team and I are passionate about making a difference. We closely collaborate with some great organisations, including the Retirement Commission.
What is something people might not know about the work you do?
A critical part of our engagement is FFH briefings provided to 1200 Regular Force recruits each year. Recruit sessions include “Fighting Fit”, (introduction to financial capability concepts) delivered by Retirement Commission trainers. These sessions are always well received.
What have you seen make the biggest difference for whanau/members you work with?
Clear communications. Each year the team develops a comprehensive communications plan, to facilitate reaching out to a broader Defence community, ranging from a 17-year-old recruit to a 101-year-old Veteran. Our benefits are available to potentially 250,000 Defence community members (including families) and we are required to use a variety of media to raise awareness. Social media is increasingly important for reaching out to the younger audiences while we continue to use more traditional media like posters, articles, and e mail messaging for others. There is also tailored messaging for each category of Defence community member. We can never communicate too much.
A powerful way of reaching out to people is face to face engagement, through a variety of briefings or presentations, or expos across camps and bases. We also use Veterans expos to reach out to older Veterans and their whanau/families. They are always very successful events.
What new trends are you seeing for whanau/members in this economic climate?
Generally, the trends we are seeing are positive. In particular, there is a greater awareness of the value of long term savings and NZDF now has 96.5% of personnel contributing to KiwiSaver or a grandparented superannuation scheme. That is really pleasing and we are on track to achieve our goal of having 100% of personnel contributing with a few years.
Despite the financial challenges faced by many households we also have few people seek to pause their contributions. By industry standards, we also have few financial hardship claims.
The suite of financial capability packages provided by the Retirement Commission continues to help NZDF obtain a financially secure and capable Defence community.
Tell us about the most rewarding moment in your work
Finding out that the Force Financial Hub and the work my team does, actually makes a real difference to some lives. Some years ago I had the pleasure of working alongside a woman, aged probably late 40’s. For years she had been on her own, living in rental accommodation, and doing a great job bringing up her then teenage son. Like many middle aged women she was very concerned about the future. She was keen to build long term financial security by buying a house, but for a variety of reasons felt that she would be locked out of the housing market for ever. A key problem was that she lacked confidence to engage with the banks. Over some months I worked with her to build her confidence to start the house buying process, mentoring her on the art of the possible, and putting her in touch with NZDF’s preferred mortgage broker service. She also attended one of our women investment programmes, provided by the Retirement Commission. She is now the proud owner of a house north of Wellington. I am still in touch with her and she regular advises that the Force Financial Hub transformed her life.
Another example of having an impact was a young soldier, who joined NZDF in approx. 2017 and like all Regular Force recruits received a comprehensive briefing on the benefits provided through the Force Financial Hub. At the time of joining he was not in KiwiSaver and so was enrolled in the NZDF KiwiSaver Scheme. Some time later he approached me in one of our mess facilities, pulled out his phone to proudly showed me how much he had accumulated over the previous three years. He was on track to having a $100k deposit for his first home and he was only 20. It is a great feeling to know that we are making a difference.