U.S. workers have a better chance of being financially secure in retirement if their employer-sponsored retirement plan includes a guaranteed income stream, according to Prudential Financial.

The results of the National Retirement Risk Index show that employees who have defined benefit plans with guaranteed income streams are much more likely to retire financially secure than those with only defined contribution plans. The index was published by The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Only 20 percent of households with defined benefit plans are at risk of not being able to maintain their standard of living in retirement, compared with 53 percent of defined contribution plan members. Of those with no employer-sponsored plan, 68 percent are at risk, the index says.

“We expect to see an improvement in retirement readiness for [defined contribution] plan participants as [defined benefit] plan characteristics, such as automatic enrollment and guaranteed income streams, are added,”says James McInnes, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Total Retirement Solutions at Prudential Retirement.

Seventy-five percent of full-time workers have access to a defined contribution plan, but only 50 percent of those who work for companies with 100 or fewer workers, according to Prudential.