IES Blog

Employees lack information for retirement planning

Posted on July 13th, 2011 Read time: 1 minutes

A company's employee benefits administration has a lot tasks on its plate, such as managing healthcare packages, vacation and retirement planning. This last aspect – retirement benefits – has grown in importance, especially as older workers delay leaving the job market.

In fact, MetLife's 9th annual Employee Benefits Trends Study found that 40 percent of employees have changed their predicted retirement date since 2010, with 30 percent raising their expected retirement age.

As more workers plan to work beyond 65 (59 percent), a businesses' human resources administration will need to assist employees for this eventuality, especially since more than one-quarter (29 percent) of respondents haven't even begun planning for this event.

"When it comes to retirement planning, the U.S. workforce needs both a map and directions – but employees should recognize that they do not have to be alone in their journey towards a secure retirement," said Robert E. Sollmann, executive vice president of retirement products at MetLife.

A separate survey from Transamerica reiterated the need for HR back office support to educate employees on retirement planning. They survey showed that 82 percent of employers believe their workers don't know as much as they should about retirement investing. 

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