Plan sponsors may have a growing interest in financial wellness programs, but that doesn’t mean they are feeling responsible for ensuring the outcomes.
A new survey finds that only 16% of employers strongly believe they have a responsibility to ensure employees’ financial preparedness, though larger firms — those with at least 100 employees — are more inclined to agree than smaller firms (46% to 29%), and 45% of employers do agree (though not strongly). That said, nearly as many — one-in-four (39%) of employers disagree. Companies that have growing HR departments are also much more inclined to feel this sense of responsibility for their employees (5.9 vs. 4.9 among companies whose HR departments are staying the same size), according to the Guardian Workplace Benefits Study.
While 65% of workers strongly agree that employers have a responsibility to provide benefits and ensure financial preparedness, those who agree that their employers have a responsibility to offer benefits tend to work for larger companies with 1,000 or more employees (52% vs. 42%) and earn incomes of $50,000 or more (75% vs. 67%). Those categories of workers are, of course, also more likely to have access to workplace benefits. Women (79%) are also somewhat more likely than men (73%) to believe offering benefits is an employer’s responsibility.
That said, employees continue to report their benefits play a major role in how financially secure they feel; and 42% suggest they rely on their benefits for all or most of their financial preparedness. The report’s authors suggest that reliance on benefits is perhaps leading many employees to believe employers have a responsibility to provide core benefits. Employers, however, don’t necessarily view benefits in the same way and may be underestimating employees’ positive views.
In fact, according to the report most employers underestimate the impact of benefits on employees’ overall financial security. Employees place greater weight on their benefits in this regard (65%) compared with employers (54%).
Small employers with five to 49 employees appear to have a strong understanding of how their employees feel about their benefits overall (just a 4-point gap with employee perspectives). However, larger employers — especially those with 5,000 or more employees — dramatically underestimate employee satisfaction with their benefits (a 28-point gap).
‘Happy’ Feat
In addition, workers may be more satisfied with their jobs and benefits than many employers realize. Three-quarters are “happy” with their jobs and a majority are satisfied with their benefits package, including 1 in 3 who are “extremely satisfied.” Yet, fewer than 2 in 10 employers believe employees are extremely satisfied with their benefits.
Workers who receive more help and communications from their employers also appear to value their benefits more. Those who prefer a “Do-It-For-Me” approach to financial decisions tend to seek out more advice compared to employees who take a “Do-It-Yourself” approach, and are more likely to say they take advantage of all or most of their company’s benefits learning opportunities (41% vs. 32%). They are also more likely to feel in-person, one-on-one (59% vs. 49%) and group benefits meetings are important (57% vs. 46%).
Do-It-For-Me employees are also much more likely to be working with a financial advisor (55% compared with 31% of all employees).
(Not) Targeting Communications
However, just two in five employers say increasing employees’ access to education and financial advice is important, and only a third feel that tailoring benefits communication to different employee segments is a highly important goal, with a mere 13% currently targeting their communications by age/generation.
Not surprisingly, companies with at least 1,000 employees and those with a growing HR/benefits department are the most likely to rate targeted communications as highly important.
The Guardian Workplace Benefits Study was conducted for Guardian by Greenwald & Associates, an independent market research firm located in Washington, D.C.
