Editors’ Note: This is part II of a four-part series about the importance of aligning the retirement benefits an employer offers with those employees’ interests and needs. Part I is here.
Employers can take a variety of steps to better align their benefits with employees’ needs and interest as well as improve their financial wellness benefits—including retirement benefits.
Access
SoFi at Work in its report “The Future of Workplace Financial Well-Being: 2024 Employer & Employee Perspectives” suggests that offering easy access to services employees can trust can help bridge the gap between what an employer offers and employee participation rates that are lower than one may hope. Betterment at Work’s research suggests that may be helpful; they report that employees told them that access to a 401(k) was one of the most important factors to them in building retirement readiness.
Paul Daneshrad, Founder & CEO of the investment and real estate firm StarPoint Properties, also advocates making such plans, as well as others, available. “Employers introducing and supporting IRAs, 401ks and Roth type savings vehicles is a great start,’ he says. 
“It starts with offering customizable 401(k) plans that enable employees to tailor their savings strategies to their individual financial goals, risk tolerance, life circumstances, and beliefs,” says Harlyn Croland, Head of Business Operations & Strategy, at Betterment at Work.
Employer Match
An employer match is another of the factors ranked most important by employees in Betterment at Work’s study. Just under half—47%—of employees in Betterment at Work’s study reported that their employers provided a match of employees’ contributions to their retirement accounts, suggesting that putting such a feature in place may be an effective way by which many employers whose plan participation lags could address the situation.
SoFi at Work suggests that there is hope. They report that they found that 43% of employees told them they wanted an employer match, and 78% of employers offered one.
Auto Features
Automatic enrollment and automatic escalation features “can also encourage greater participation among employees at all career stages,” says Croland, and also can encourage employees to better prioritize retirement contributions.
Provide Resources
USI Consulting Group suggests that employers provide employees with retirement income planning tools and resources to enhance employees’ grasp of their financial needs in retirement and how to build savings.
Encourage and Remind
USI Consulting Group suggests employers encourage their employees to use retirement income planning tools. And SoFi at Work suggests that employers can boost participation if they send targeted reminders to employees about what they are offering.
Next: Financial literacy has a role in aligning retirement benefits and employee needs.
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