According to our research, employees in virtually all demographics are unsure if they will be able to retire. This means there is ongoing risk for employers to spend millions of dollars over time on employees who delay retirement. Here are some of the tangible costs they could incur:

Increased health care costs. Employees who want to retire but are unable to do so for financial reasons are likely to have significantly higher health care costs on average, which translates directly into costs for your company in terms of increased health insurance.
Higher costs in keeping older employees in the work force. On average, an employee who delays retirement costs a company anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000 a year. If the average employee postpones retirement for three years, there is a potential for companies to spend millions of dollars a year if they have a large population of boomers who can't retire.

But even beyond these tangible costs, employers face:

Declines in performance among older employees who do not want to be working, or cannot effectively handle their job responsibilities, but must work longer for financial reasons. This indirectly impacts the bottom line in terms of greater absenteeism and lower productivity.
Declines in performance among younger employees who are unable to move up the career ladder, which causes lower morale and decreased motivation.

To avoid these risks, employers can take some proactive steps to help their employees understand their retirement benefits and use them to effectively grow their portfolios. Here are a few:

Instant Insights /

What to do when your employees can't retire

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