U.S. workers are depending more heavily on employers to help them manage their personal finances.
Executives from a unit of MetLife Inc., New York, talked about that point here today when they unveiled the company's Sixth Annual Employee Benefits Trends Study.
The researchers who conducted the study polled 1,380 full-time employees ages 21 and older at companies with at least 2 employees, and they also interviewed 1,652 benefits decision-makers at employers with 2 or more employees.
The majority of the survey participants – 52% – said they get most of their retirement products and other financial products through their employers, MetLife executives reported.
About 72% of employees agreed that retirement benefits are a "very important" factor in promoting employee loyalty, and 81% agreed that health benefits are very important in promoting loyalty.
Meanwhile, only 60% of the employers said they think health benefits are very important in promoting employee loyalty, and just 41% said retirement benefits are very important loyalty builders.
Employees' answers to other questions suggest that employees recognize that the U.S. population is aging and that benefits costs are skyrocketing, according to Bill Mullaney, president of institutional business at MetLife.
