Data and Research October 12, 2021

Employees Say Retirement Benefits Contribute to Financial Wellness

The benefits that employers already offer help employees feel financially secure, but many workers have a strong interest in assistance with building emergency savings, a study finds.

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Sixty percent of employees say their employer-sponsored retirement plan contributes a lot to them feeling financially secure, a 5% increase over 2020, according to the “2021 Workplace Wellness Survey,” conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and independent research firm Greenwald Research.

Of those with an employer-sponsored retirement plan, seven in 10 report that they understand their benefits extremely or very well. Six in 10 say they are satisfied with their plan. Of those without an employer-sponsored plan, 60% are interested in one.

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Most employees that were surveyed are currently contributing to their plan and receive contributions from their employer. Of those receiving employer contributions, 68% say they are satisfied with the contribution they get. Slightly less than half report that they contribute equal or up to their employer match; another four in 10 contribute more.

Approximately half also say life insurance and financial wellness programs contribute a lot to them feeling financially secure.

Employees say greater employer financial contributions (34%), increased flexibility (i.e., more benefits to choose from) (28%) and more benefits to help with financial well-being (26%) are the most valuable improvements that could be made to their benefit programs.

The 2021 survey of 2,016 American workers was conducted online July 7 through July 27. All respondents were between the ages of 21 and 64.

Additional Benefits to Help Financial Security

Although the majority of employees say they feel the benefits their employers already offer help them feel more financially secure, 49% of employees express at least moderate concern about their household’s financial well-being. Saving for retirement and having savings in case of an emergency are the top cited sources of financial stress. Sixty-three percent say they feel stressed when thinking about their financial future, though this is down from seven in 10 in 2020.

Two in three employees surveyed report that they feel they have enough savings to handle an emergency. Eight in 10 say they are prepared for an unexpected expense of $500 and six in 10 feel prepared for a $5,000 expense.

Still, 83% of employees say they are at least somewhat interested in an emergency savings account that allows them to save through payroll deduction. And more than half (54%) of employees report their retirement savings are the only significant emergency savings they have.

Since the pandemic has exposed many Americans’ lack of emergency savings, retirement plan recordkeepers have been scrambling to create both in-plan and out-of-plan solutions, according to a report from Commonwealth. That report also noted that employers have options for offering an emergency savings benefit.

When employees surveyed in the EBRI/Greenwald Research study were given a hypothetical $600 monthly benefits budget, overall, they allocated the most money into a retirement savings account, followed by an emergency savings account. Although student loan debt is reported as a big problem and a hindrance to saving, and some employers are considering ways to help employees with student loan debt, the employees in the survey allocated the least amount of the hypothetical monthly benefits budget to a plan to pay down student debt.

Break from the Grind October 12, 2021

Blur Between Work and Personal Life a Top Contributor to Mental Stress

A survey finds women are more likely to be struggling mentally with work challenges than men, and the mental health benefits employers are offering are not as helpful as they might hope.

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Half of employees surveyed by The Conference Board said pressure related to their workload was negatively impacting their mental health either quite a bit or a great deal.

This was followed by blurred boundaries between work and personal life, selected by 44% of respondents. These two challenges were cited by significantly more employees than worries about contracting COVID-19 (34%) or exposing loved ones to COVID-19 (37%).

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“We have long predicted that the pandemic would bring a tsunami of mental health issues; 19 months later, the toll on workers is unrelenting—and, in some cases, continuing to worsen,” says Rebecca Ray, executive vice president of human capital at The Conference Board. “Women in particular face a disproportionate amount of pressure due to the combined demands of work and home life. If business leaders hope to cultivate a second-to-none workforce, especially in this tight labor market, improving the employee experience by providing flexibility must play a key role in their business strategy.”

The survey found women are disproportionately suffering from work-related pressures—at more than 1.5 times the rate of their male counterparts.

More than three-quarters (77%) of survey respondents list concerns such as stress and burnout as one of their biggest well-being challenges at work; that’s compared to a little over half (55%) reporting mental well-being concerns six months ago.

Despite the pandemic, concerns over mental health are nearly double those of physical health (77% vs. 40%). Substantially more women (82%) than men (68%) report mental health as their biggest concern.

A survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and independent research firm Greenwald Research also found 49% of employees feel mental health wellness programs are more important now than before the pandemic. Only about three in 10 employees report they are offered mental health-related programs such as resources to improve mental health, expanded benefits or access to a mental health coach. However, approximately six in 10 respondents who are not currently offered these benefits are interested in them.

Most respondents to the survey by The Conference Board (75%) feel their supervisor genuinely cares about their well-being. However, significantly fewer (55%) think their supervisor would change their workload to address their mental health concerns.

In addition, The Conference Board finds that organizational well-being initiatives are not viewed as being as helpful as employers might hope. Half of respondents (54%) feel that their organization’s initiatives to support their well-being were either not helpful (18%) or slightly helpful at best (36%).

“The pandemic blurred the line between work and home life, due in part to continuous connectivity and an increased sense of urgency due to the economic crisis,” says Amy Lui Abel, vice president, human capital research at The Conference Board. “These findings reveal the notable impact this lack of boundaries has had and speaks to the need for leaders to both re-evaluate the efficacy of programs to support worker well-being and to better communicate about the availability of these resources.”

A podcast about the survey results is available at https://conference-board.org/blog/podcasts/Mental-Health-and-the-American-Worker.

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