It seems as though the young adults of today are putting a heavy emphasis on their future financial security. With the Great Recession basically ripping the job market apart, can you really blame them? Spark News has talked a lot about how young adults were and still are greatly affected by the weak job market so it seems that paying attention to how they will be taken care of in the future only seems right. When it comes to their careers, young adults, as well as mid-aged adults, are looking for jobs that provide better retirement benefits and pensions.
According to U.S. News, the number of workers under the age of 40 that consider a retirement plan a very important aspect of their job increased from a mere 28 percent in 2009 to 63 percent in 2011. David Speier, a senior retirement consultant at Towers Watson, was quoted saying, “the combination of a slow economic recovery and more older employees delaying retirement is making it increasingly difficult for younger employees to find jobs or advance in their careers. As a result, young workers are clearly giving much more weight toward both employer retirement and health care benefits when making career and employment decisions.” In regards to this information, can you really blame them? Job security and financial security is a large concern for most Americans, so it’s only right for young adults to make sure they will be secure in the future.
Furthermore, offering great pensions is a great way for companies to attract desirable candidates. In fact, U.S. News reports that around 72 percent of employees that work in companies with pensions say that the retirement plan motivates them to stay up on the job. This is a great increase from the 37 percent of employees that said the same thing in 2009. Even more interesting is the percentage of employees with a traditional pension that say they intend to stay with their current company until they retire. Specifically, 74 percent of employees say this compared to the 44 percent that said the same thing in 2009. Compared to the statistics of employees with 401(k)’s, a retirement plan or pension plan is much more desirable.
When asked if a company’s 401(k) plan influenced their decision to take the job, only 28 percent said that it did. Moreover, only 36 percent of these employees said that the 401(k) plan motivated them to stay. It’s clear by simply looking at the statistics that employees under the age of 40 want a retirement plan or pension plan more than a 401(k) plan. Plus, since 2009 employees’ desire to secure their future has greatly increased. In other words, if your company offers desirable pensions and retirement benefits, it’s likely that your employees will be much more loyal than if you simply offered a 401(k) plan.
If you were deciding between two jobs, would you rather go with the one that has a great retirement plan or the one that offers a 401(k)?
SOURCE: US News
IMAGE: Courtesy of House Cleaning Diva
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