Benefits programs are falling short—according to workers, anyway.
New findings from the third annual Guardian Workplace Benefits Study, from Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, found that 60 percent of employees believe that benefits meetings would be more relevant to their needs if the meetings were targeted by age.
Sensible thought, that, since workers of different ages have different concerns.
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Young workers—those within five years of entering the workplace—and workers nearing retirement—those within five years of retiring—have very different needs and questions.
While both categories of worker are looking for more help with benefits and financial decisions (85 percent of younger workers, 61 percent of pre-retirees), the information they seek is quite different.
Younger workers say their primary concern is paying the bills (92 percent); after that, they worry about
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job security (88 percent)
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work/life balance (85 percent)
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reducing debt (79 percent)
They're looking for more personal advice.
Workers who are pre-retirees, however, are preoccupied with
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having adequate health insurance (94 percent)
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having a comfortable retirement (93 percent)
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maintaining their health (90 percent)
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having adequate savings (87 percent)
They need help preparing for retirement—something that's barely on young workers' radar screens—and figuring out ways to make the most out of the money, and savings opportunities, that they have.
Almost two-thirds of young workers, according to the findings, believe that buying insurance and saving for retirement through their employer is easier than doing it on their own; 56 percent would rather learn about financial planning and products at work.
Just 44 percent of preretirees want to do that, probably because they've already been fending for themselves for years.
Either way, benefits programs aren't giving them what they need; just 13 percent of employers are providing the tailored approach that employees say they want.
And only 33 percent of employers even think it's important to tailor communications to different segments of employees.
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