Pension representatives from Slovenia have visited several Swedish institutions to learn about best practices in pension communication, as part of a project overseen by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Slovenian delegation included civil servants, mainly from the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and the Slovenian Pension Agency (ZPIZ). During the visit, the Slovenian delegation met with the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, the Swedish Pensions Agency, the Financial Supervisory Authority, KPA pension fund and the Seventh AP Fund (AP7).

“The study visit was organised to create an opportunity for Slovenian civil servants to learn from the Swedish experience on pension communication,” OECD social policy division economist, Maciej Lis, told European Pensions.

The visit was the final accord of a project run in cooperation with the OECD and the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) of the European Commission, to support Slovenia in improving its pension system and disability insurance. In January this year, the OECD published a review of the Slovenian pension system with recommendations on pensions.

It was after seeing an article by European Pensions about AP7's pension engagement campaign on Instagram that the OECD reached out to the fund.

“The study visit was organised by the OECD with close cooperation with the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. We reached out to AP7 because the premium pension is an important part of the pension system in Sweden. Additionally, while preparing the study visit, we noticed European Pensions’ article about AP7’s Instagram campaign over the internet and social media, which are crucial for any communication campaigns nowadays,” Lis said.

Commenting on the visit, AP7 communications strategist, Mikael Lindh Hök, said: “The visit from the Slovenian representatives was very pleasant, where we shared our lessons learned of reaching out with engaging pension communication. It feels great if we’ve been able to contribute to better pension systems within Europe and it has been a pleasure throughout the years to welcome visits that the OECD has arranged from various European countries.”

The visit is an example of the close collaboration between OECD and European Union countries.

“Countries run very different pension policies and the way that communication around pensions works very differently. Much can be learned from successes and failures in this area. For example, with many changes to the famous orange envelope, the Swedish experience in this area is very valuable. Additionally, the Swedish ‘my pension’ portal has been developed in a way that combines information from different sources in a very friendly manner. This is a very useful example for Slovenia,” Lis added.

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