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Communicating About Retirement Benefits Crucial to Retention

Industry Trends and Research

Employees say retirement benefits are important when deciding whether to leave an employer, but apparently many employers are missing key opportunities to tell them about their benefits. 

More than 8 in 10 employees (82%) say their benefits—specifically their retirement benefits (77%)—are highly important in deciding whether they will change jobs, according to TIAA’s 2022 Employee Retention Survey. And this comes as nearly a third of employees say they are considering leaving their jobs this year. 

Most employees also reveal that they are seeking better information about their retirement savings plans from their employer, saying that more educational resources and communications clarifying benefits can help build trust. 

In fact, 7 in 10 think education on retirement savings planning and understanding their plan’s investment options would be helpful, both up from 2020 (from 63% and 66%, respectively). Similarly, 68% of employees say they would like their employer's help developing a retirement strategy. This number increases among employees ages 30-39, with 78% reporting that they would like guidance on how much to save each year for retirement.

Trusted Source

Additional findings show that 7 in 10 employees agree that their employer is a trusted source on retirement-related information and advice, and 65% say the same about financial wellness. What’s more, employees who trust their employer in these areas are more likely to:

  • have a better understanding and higher satisfaction with their retirement plan; 
  • think their employer puts in effort around financial wellness, retirement preparedness and financial literacy; and 
  • place higher importance of benefits when making decisions to change employers. 

Meanwhile, many employers see their current offerings as a valuable asset for attracting and retaining employees and note that they feel a high degree of responsibility for their employees’ retirement preparedness (54%) and financial wellness (46%). Employers that report feeling more responsible are more likely to see their benefits as a recruiting advantage and think their employees are satisfied with their benefits. But these percentages are both down from about three-quarters of employers saying the same in 2020, TIAA notes. 

Communication Efforts

Yet, while most employers say they intentionally use benefits as a retention and recruitment tool, benefit communication could be improved, as many employees do not recall receiving information about their benefits during the recruiting and open-enrollment process. According to the findings: 

  • just 16% of employees say they received information about their current retirement plan before being hired;
  • 42% say their benefits were communicated when they first started their job;
  • 54% say they received information during open enrollment; and
  • only a third of employers say they communicate about their benefits plans before hiring an employee.

Moreover, since the beginning of the pandemic, most employees have recognized their employers’ increased focus on health and safety (64%), but just a third noted a heightened focus on their financial wellness. 

As such, more effort should be made in communicating benefits as a tool to help with recruitment and retainment challenges, TIAA emphasizes.  

“We know that retirement benefits can be a significant difference-maker for employees when they're considering career choices, yet employers are missing critical opportunities to communicate about them,” says Raymond Bellucci, head of Recordkeeping Solutions at TIAA. “Regularly providing education and information about retirement benefits can enhance retention and recruitment strategies, build stronger employee-employer relationships and boost employees’ retirement preparedness.” 

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