About a third (32 per cent) of defined contribution pension plan sponsors that currently don’t use a financial wellness program say it’s because they don’t expect employees to take advantage of it, according to a new survey by Cerulli Associates.
However, the survey also found financial wellness programs have grown to become a key component of the DC plan value chain, with close to 90 per cent of record keepers presenting a financial wellness program that’s either proprietary or offered with a strategic partner.
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Among the record keepers surveyed, 94 per cent said they’re focused on measuring digital interactions to drive intelligence evaluating website activity, followed by DC plan participation and/or contribution rates (89 per cent) and plan member interviews and/or surveys (61 per cent).
“Modern financial wellness programs are becoming unrecognizable compared with earlier iterations, which mainly consisted of libraries of PDFs or links to generic videos that explained basic financial concepts,” said Elizabeth Chiffer, an analyst at Cerulli, in a press release. “Today, plan providers have the technology infrastructure and data capture capabilities to fine tune their approach to participant outreach.
“Providers that can leverage data to deliver a personalized experience that aligns with participant goals and planning horizons will prove valuable to plan sponsors and participants.”