Defined contribution plan sponsors are responding to employees postponing retirement by shifting to easier access to financial wellness tools, a report from Deloitte shows.
In a survey of executives at 240 defined contribution plans, 35% of respondents — the highest amount — say they are unsure why employees are working beyond the age they are eligible to retire, according to Deloitte's 2019 Defined Contribution Benchmarking Survey Report.
In the previous survey in 2017, 38% of respondents said they were unsure why their employees were working longer. The next highest response was they believed employee preference led them to work longer, at 23% (compared with 19% in 2017), and the third-highest response was they believed employees did so to keep health care coverage, at 21% (compared with 16% in 2017) and 12% believe employees are doing so because they have not saved enough (compared with 13% in 2017).
According to the survey, plans are responding by offering easier access to their accounts. In the 2019 survey, 71% of respondents said mobile transactions are supported for all devices for administrative purposes, compared to 59% in 2017.
Also, more plans are providing online retirement income projections for participants, with 77% responding that they do so in 2019, compared with 66% in 2017 and 54% in 2015.
When asked whether participants interact with their record keepers using handheld devices in group and individual meetings for immediate participant action, 26% said they do so in 2019, compared with 25% in 2017 and 14% in 2015.
Fifty-five percent said they use smartphone and/or tablet applications, compared with 48% in 2017 and 40% in 2015. Social media interaction, however, fell to 6% in 2019 from 7% in 2017.
The survey is available on Deloitte's website.
