By and large, workers are not feeling the love from their employers during the coronavirus outbreak.

In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. employees, just 28% of respondents said they felt their employer’s efforts to boost their overall well-being had increased since the pandemic began, according to the first Workplace Wellness study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

The results contrast with a recent Bank of America survey of employers that found a growing feeling of responsibility for the financial wellbeing of their workers.

Still, most of EBRI's respondents, 61%, felt their employers’ wellness efforts remained the same before and after Covid-19 swept across the globe, but were lukewarm about the impacts of those efforts. About half, or 48%, said their employer had done a good job helping them improve their physical wellbeing, and 42% said the same for their emotional and financial wellbeing.

EBRI did not find evidence that a significant number of employers were cutting benefits during the pandemic, with only 1% of the respondents reporting their benefits had been reduced.

The EBRI survey found that half of employees, 47%, were satisfied with their benefits package, 58% were satisfied with their retirement savings plan and 54% were satisfied with their current health insurance. 

Health insurance was identified as the benefit that contributes most to an employee’s financial security. And employees also expressed dependence on their employers—70% said they needed their employer’s help to be healthy and financially secure.

Two-thirds of employees said they were stressed when thinking about their financial future, and half said they were concerned with their household’s wellbeing, citing saving for retirement and having enough to cover emergencies as their top sources of financial stress.

Just under half of employees surveyed said they would welcome advice from a third-party benefits advisor or an online program. Still, only about three-in-10 of the respondents reported taking advantage of offered education and advice about their benefits.

EBRI employed Greenwald Research to conduct the online survey between July 13 and August 6 among 1,028 American workers ages 21-64, including 900 who were currently employed full or part-time in their primary job and 128 who were furloughed.