Employees in the healthcare industry work demanding jobs that often include long hours, alternative shifts and stress, requiring a retirement planning service model that is flexible and personalized to each participant to serve their unique needs. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, there are trends in the industry impacting employee’s ability to save for retirement.
Seventy-three percent of full-time healthcare workers currently contributing to their employer-sponsored retirement plan are saving less than what they think they need to save to be on track for retirement. The median amount healthcare workers think they need to save to be on track is 15%, but the median amount healthcare workers are actually saving is 10%, according to Lincoln Financial’s Wellness@Work white paper. The good news is that employers are uniquely positioned to support their employees in their retirement planning journey by offering benefits that can help and choosing a retirement plan provider that is poised to serve their unique needs.
Debt keeping healthcare workers from saving enough
In the healthcare industry, 88% of full-time workers carry debt and 48% say debt is a reason they are saving less for retirement than they’d like. With debt being a primary challenge for healthcare workers saving for retirement, employers can offer a number of solutions to help, including:
- Wellness tools such as Lincoln’s WellnessPATH, which can help employees access resources for stress management, budgeting, loan repayment and more. By putting the power in the hands of employees, employers can help them make a plan to take control of their own wellness, and in turn reduce the impact of personal stress on workplace productivity.
- Offer a holistic benefits package, including supplemental health benefits such as critical illness, accident coverage and hospital indemnity insurance. All of these benefits can offer greater peace of mind to employees and help them weather the cost of an unexpected health event without taking an emergency withdrawal from their retirement account. This is especially important when you consider that 1 out of 3 healthcare employees reported incurring a major or moderate medical expense in the last few years, according to the white paper.
- Provide personal, one-on-one guidance through a dedicated retirement consultant. As employees navigate life’s changes, they can take their personal circumstances into account while keeping saving for retirement front and center. One-on-one conversations allow participants to speak with an expert about their current and long-term goals, and personal financial situation, factoring in needs like child-care, paying off debt or saving for a house and how they impact their personal retirement plan.
In healthcare, employees work varied hours—often around the clock—to provide patient care, which can present a unique challenge for employers seeking to offer educational resources for retirement planning. When choosing a retirement plan provider, employers can look for key resources that can help employees take charge of their retirement planning to include:
- A multi-lingual team of retirement consultants who work flexible hours and offer a self-scheduling experience for employees seeking to meeting. Virtual meeting platforms also offer employees the flexibility to meet from wherever is most convenient to them, invite a spouse who may be in a different location and sign documents virtually, saving time and providing an easy way for participants to make changes to their plan from anywhere.
- A single benefits provider for both group benefits and retirement and a single-platform access point for all benefits. When employees can access both their retirement plan and their group benefits in a single app experience, they’re able to evaluate which of their benefits to utilize in that moment, and don’t have to keep track of multiple logins or navigate different platforms to access the resources they need.
Guaranteed income in retirement
With so many healthcare employees citing debt as a reason they aren’t saving as much as they need, and their growing concern around having enough income in retirement, it’s no surprise that annuities and in-plan guaranteed income products[1] are rising in popularity. 73% of healthcare workers say they would be interested in an investment option within their employer’s retirement plan that provides guaranteed payments in retirement, similar to a pension. Across all industries, the white paper found interest in guaranteed income products has increased, with 74% of non-participants saying that an income option would encourage them to start participating in their employer-sponsored plan.
With the healthcare industry serving such an important role, and its employees facing high levels of stress and burnout, the more employers can support employee wellbeing through debt management, wellness resources and retirement planning services the more likely they are to attract and retain top talent.
SEE ALSO:
• Healthcare Costs in Retirement Likely to Far Exceed Americans’ Expectations
• Despite Confidence in Healthcare Decisions, Americans Concerned About Costs
• More Employers Incorporating Health Savings Account Education
[1] Guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing company.
Anne Shiembob is a vice president of Retirement Plan Services (RPS) at Lincoln Financial. Anne leads RPS’s internal teams including internal sales, relationship management, retirement consulting and training to deliver on Lincoln’s differentiated client experience for plan sponsors and participants. In addition, she oversees the Communication Consulting team that develops and delivers strategic participant communication and education programs designed to meet client goals and improve employee financial wellness. Anne joined Lincoln Financial in 2007 and has 17 years of industry experience. Prior to her current role, Anne was the Managing Director for the east coast advisor channel helping to recruit, retain and grow the retirement plan advisor network at Lincoln.
