The plan sponsors that recognize the desires of the employees will attract top talent. As retirement crisis reach a boiling point at the states level employees are viewing a good retirement plan as a true benefit. When an employer offers a plan that looks more like a pension plan,

top talent will be attracted to these companies. Sometimes by sacrificing higher pay.

Bill Daniels, a senior retirement consultant with Towers Watson, said the overall gist of the survey indicates that despite their fears, employees—especially younger employees, who still have miles to go in pre-loading their 401(k)accounts—are at least willing to confront the retirement challenges they face. That means a good opportunity for employers to do more worksite education about retirement planning.“The biggest thrust we get from the data is that benefits people need to boost, urge, push and nudge people to make those decisions,” he says. “We advocate the idea of gathering all the data on an employee’s financial independence target age, their possible Social Security benefits, their 401(k), etc., and doing the actuarial math, but making it all a little more conversational.”

In the newly released data, the retirement survey confirms that nearly two-thirds of employees are indeed paying more attention to their retirement readiness, especially older workers, higher-income workers and those still part of a DB plan.

This survey confirms employees desire and need to save for retirement. Employers offering their employees a pension fund like plan will attract and retain top employees. This can be easily attained by a simple change in plan design.

Please comment or call to discuss how this affects you and your employees.