10% of employers believe their staff are saving enough for retirement

Jonathan Watts-Lay

One in ten (10%) employer respondents believe their employees are saving enough for retirement, according to research by Wealth at Work.

Its Pension changes survey, which polled 108 reward and benefits, HR and pension professionals, also found that 16% of respondents provide no support for employees at retirement, and 39% of respondents provide information only.

The research also found:

  • 48% of respondents believe their employees are not aware of the various retirement income options available to them at retirement.
  • 20% of respondents provide a full retirement income service for employees at retirement.
  • 39% of respondents default employees to an annuity tracked glide path if no active choice is made.

Jonathan Watts-Lay (pictured), director at Wealth at Work, said: “I fear that employees are set to fail from the start when it comes to generating sufficient pension savings. With contribution rates for auto-enrolment set so low, I believe that there is still a long way to go until we are at a stage where the majority of employees are producing sufficient pension savings for financial security in retirement.

“It’s clear that many employees are simply abandoned at retirement and are left incredibly vulnerable to making poor decisions due to the lack of support available, or worse still being scammed by ‘an offer too good to ignore’. Financial support at this point must be made a priority given the enormity of the decisions that employees face at this stage of their life.”