Employees are clamoring for improvements to company-provided retirement plans — and here’s their wish list.
The top five things today’s employees want from their retirement plans, according to a recent ING and Ipsos Public Affairs telephone survey of 1,000 U.S. adults:
- Better investment options — 88% of Americans want a more diverse selection of investment options in their 401(k)s.
- Retirement income projections — 84% want to know how much income their 401(k) would provide if it was converted into a monthly stream of income after retirement. Plus, workers want to know how long into retirement their savings will last.
- More education — 83% would like their companies to provide more education about how much to save and invest for retirement. Another 43% said the government should educate the public about retirement products.
- Make plans available to everyone — more than 75% said every employer should make some type of retirement savings plan available to its workers.
- Automatic features — 22% would like to see their employers automatically increase worker contribution levels and 20% want their employers to automatically enroll participants. Two other steps many workers would like to see employers take — eliminate waiting periods before employees can participate in 401(k)s and shorten vesting periods.