Receiving financial guidance at the workplace is steadily becoming the norm. What's more the workplace is also where 52% of working Americans now receive the majority of their financial and retirement products, up from 46% a year ago, says MetLife.
More workers have a greater interest in obtaining financial planning advice at work, and nearly half of all employees want their employers to provide retirement advice.
"Employees are concerned about the economy, which forces them to take a step back and think about where they are and what might happen to them if they were to change or lose their job," Bill Mullaney, president of MetLife institutional business told attendees at the national benefit symposium, which is sponsored by MetLife.
"We will start to see employers getting more requests from workers about helping them to make the most out of their benefit plans," he adds. Some might say that the current state of the economy serves as a wake up call for workers to take action on their financial situation.
The 6th Annual MetLife study of Employee Benefits Trends also reported that retention was employers' number one benefits objective for the second consecutive year. More employers are recognizing that benefits drive satisfaction. A majority, 58% believe that benefits play a very important role in employee retention. That percentage climbs to 65% for employers with 500 or more employees.
Seventy-two percent of employees say retirement benefits are an important factor in loyalty, whereas only 41% of employers say the same. The study reveals a significant gap between how loyal employers believe they are to employees and employees' perception of that loyalty. For example, 55% of employers say they feel a strong sense of loyalty to their workers, whereas only 41% of employees feel that their employers have a strong sense of loyalty to them.
The complete survey is available at www.whymetlife.com/trendspr.
