Employees aren't immune to the news reports of millions of Americans losing trillions of dollars in collective retirement income, and the news that increasing numbers of organizations are freezing their retirement plans, suspending matching contributions or both is heightening anxiety about their futures.
A new survey by Workplace Options finds that 59% of employees are concerned that money from their pensions and 401(k)s won't be there when they need it.
Dean Debnam, Workplace Options CEO says the worry causes a vicious cycle, as layoffs beget financial worries that decrease job performance and put employees in the line of fire for layoffs. "This, coupled with financial worries, can spell disaster for a worker's emotional and physical wellbeing, as well as overall productivity."
Even if your company is suspended its matching contributions -- which I strongly advise against -- or otherwise making retirement plan cutbacks, be sure to communicate with employees in a way that doesn't send them into a tailspin. Click here to listen to our podcast with communications expert Dennis Ackley and read the accompanying article, “Softening the blow of bad benefits news,” in the February EBN.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
We all know the #1 reason Reagan's handlers pushed 401(k) was the instant payoff especially to Executive Life and Drexel... ERISA allowed them to replace properly managed pension funds with essentially unsupervised "guaranteed insurance contracts"...guarantees that in the end were paid for by the taxpayer.
This is much the same as Cheney's blood-for-oil arrangement. Neither Cheney nor Reagan got much out of their promises (except for high office).
Post a Comment