Self-reliance is more of an intellectual construct than a behavioral reality for employees
This is most obvious when it comes to employees’ views about providing for their own financial and physical well-being through their working loves and into retirement. Three quarters of the global respondents agree that responsibility for their financial future already rests with them.The confidence in handling one’s own responsibility is underwhelming, especially in terms of planning for retirement.
Key Stats on Self-Reliance
- Retirement confidence. Only 42% are confident they will have sufficient resources in retirement
- Health care needs. 38% feel comfortable providing for their own health care needs in retirement
- Decline in standard of living.41% believe their standard of living will actually decline in retirement
- Worries of financial future. 62% worry often about their future financial state
- Present financial state. 54% worry frequently about their present financial state
- Never stop working! Only 25% plan to stop working completely once they retire
It’s alarming how worried people are all around the world today. These distinctions in employee’s comfort levels underscore the importance of knowledge and expertise, experience, clear communication and global clarity in building confidence. People generally know their jobs and what’s needed – the same hasn’t been true for retirement areas – employees continue to view their benefit as overly complex and not well communicated.
The other key insight emerging for the data is that employees want more flexibility to allocate their rewards in the way that best suits their needs. But they want that freedom within a well-defined safety net to protect them against excessive risk.
The full study is available on the Towers Watson site.
