The top goal of retirement plan sponsors—to make sure employees are ready for retirement—has not changed over the years, according to Fidelity Investments’ Plan Sponsor Attitudes Study released Monday.

In addition, most plan sponsors continue to make changes to their offerings to make the plans more effective, said Fidelity's 11th annual study of 1,555 plan sponsors, taken in February before Covid-19 struck.

Fidelity also surveyed a subset of 1,000 plan sponsors in late March in the midst of market volatility and found that their top concern was their employees’ overall financial well-being.

“While supporting their employees’ retirement readiness has always been a top priority for plan sponsors, the current market crisis has accelerated its importance,” Liz Pathe, head of defined contribution investment only sales at Fidelity Institutional, said in a statement. “Plan sponsors are looking for guidance and reassurance during this difficult time, and we continue to see plan advisors playing an important role in helping companies identify ways to improve their retirement plans and help their employees strengthen their financial well-being.”

Investment changes were made to make the plans more effective, with 74% of plan sponsors making changes to their investment menus in the past two years. The top changes were to increase the number of investment options (28%), replace an underperforming fund (23%), and add a target-date fund (23%). Forty-four percent of sponsors reported that they review performance of their plans’ investment options at least quarterly, down from 58% last year.

The study found that 92% of plan sponsors reported they work with a plan advisor, and 70% of those who work with an advisor were very satisfied with their relationships. Sponsors with advisors said they were satisfied that their plans are achieving company and participant goals.

“In our conversations with plan sponsors and advisors, investment performance is now top of mind given the potential for continued market volatility,” said Pathe. “Plan advisors can play a more active role by proactively reviewing plans’ investment menus with sponsors and working to address their concerns.”

In addition to changing investments, 82% of plan sponsors have made changes to plan design in the past two years. Changes were made to the company match and to the matching funds formulas.

Fidelity surveyed 900 plan sponsors in mid-April and found that 63% do not plan any reductions or suspensions of their companies’ matches.

In addition to offering retirement savings, more than half of plan sponsors offer financial wellness programs to employees and 61% of those offering wellness programs said have a strong positive impact on employees.