Financial Finesse on Wednesday released a six-step model for employers to follow to help employees retire, beyond encouraging participation in company 401(k) plans.
Although 88 percent of employees who have access to employer-sponsored 401(k) plans participate, only 19 percent of employees are on track to reach their retirement goals, Financial Finesse says.
Employers should prompt employees to run an annual retirement projection to see where they stand, Financial Finesse says. In addition, default payroll deferments for retirement savings should be set at 10 percent. Employees should be enrolled in automatic escalation plans for savings rates.
Employers should hold yearly benefits planning sessions, should target information to specific demographic groups and should develop a comprehensive financial wellness program.
“This model is the future,” says Greg Ward, Financial Finesse’s think tank director. “For years, all of us in the retirement industry have come at the problem from different angles thinking that there’s some sort of magic bullet that would change everything for participants.
“The reality is that a holistic approach is far more successful. Tools alone can’t resolve the problem; employees have to fundamentally change their behavior, and that requires a very strong support system,” he adds.