This year’s survey reveals the immediate focus and priorities that employers, plan sponsors and pension trustees have for their defined contribution (DC) retirement plans. In this edition, in response to the growing concern surrounding retirement adequacy, we look at the views and actions of employers concerning the outcomes that employees can expect from their retirement provision.
What are the main priorities for employers in retirement provision, what steps are sponsors taking, and what opportunities should employers and trustees focus on?
Globally, we see companies increasingly wanting their employee benefit programs to communicate their value to stakeholders and to help build a resilient workforce and support employee wellbeing (WTW Priorities for Employee Benefits Survey 2023).
It is over a decade since the requirement to automatically enrol eligible workers into a workplace pension scheme began in 2012. With opt-outs remaining relatively low, even during a cost-of-living crisis, this has successfully increased participation rates in UK private sector pensions and attention is increasingly turning to the question of retirement adequacy: whether employees will have enough savings to meet their income needs as they move into retirement.
Employers report a strong focus on improving the wider support they offer to employees. Most employers are looking to improve the employee experience (79%), enhance support for financial wellbeing (71%) and improve support for decision making at retirement (51%).
Looking across the key findings from our survey, employers are looking to take significant steps to improve provision, particularly around employee experience, at-retirement support and financial wellbeing initiatives. Yet there are a number of areas where sponsors could further enhance their DC provision.
