Pension Benefits Are Critical Factor For Workers in Deciding Whether to Accept a Job

April 19, 2018

The Pension Benefit May Now Be Nearly as Important to Employees as Their Healthcare

Owen Davies, Global Managing Director, Pension Transformation Services, Accenture

(Arlington, VA, Thursday, April 19, 2018) – A new report shows that pension benefits are a major factor for most workers when deciding whether to accept a job.

Specifically, nearly 80 percent of the 2,700 U.S. and Canadian workers and retirees with pension plans surveyed said that the availability of pension benefits was a critical factor in deciding whether or not to accept a job. Further, pensions remained a critical loyalty factor even after employees were hired, with nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of respondents saying they stayed with an employer due to pension benefits.

Owen Davies, who leads Accenture’s global pensions practice, discusses the findings.

SOUNDBITE #1:

THE PENSION BENEFIT MAY NOW BE NEARLY AS IMPORTANT TO EMPLOYEES AS THEIR HEALTHCARE. WHILE HEALTH BENEFITS HAVE BEEN THE BENEFIT MOST VALUED BY JOB SEEKERS AND EMPLOYEES IN RECENT YEARS, PENSIONS APPEAR TO BE CLOSING THE GAP. OUR RESEARCH ALSO FOUND THAT PENSION BENEFITS ARE MORE IMPORTANT TO YOUNGER WORKERS THAN OLDER WORKERS – SO EMPLOYERS NEED TO FACTOR THIS INTO THEIR RECRUITMENT AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT PLANS. MORE THAN EIGHTY PERCENT OF MILLENNIALS AND GEN XERS CITED THEIR PENSION OR RETIREMENT BENEFITS AS A CRITICAL FACTOR IN ACCEPTING A JOB.

SOUNDBITE #2:

THE NATIONWIDE RESEARCH ALSO FOUND THAT FOUR OUT OF FIVE EMPLOYEES WANT MORE HELP GETTING READY FOR RETIREMENT, AND THERE IS A STRONG BUT UNDER-SERVED DEMAND BY EMPLOYEES WANTING HELP WITH RETIREMENT PLANNING AND COACHING VIA DIGITAL CHANNELS SUCH AS MOBILE APPS AND DIGITAL ASSISTANTS. VERY FEW WORKERS ARE CURRENTLY GETTING SUCH HELP, SO IT’S AN AREA OF BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR EMPLOYERS.

For more information, visit Accenture.com.

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