NEW YORK — When more than 1,000 human resource officers were recently asked what concerns they were hearing the most, many said employees are worried about the economic turmoil's impact on their retirement plans.
Mercer, a provider of consulting, outsourcing and investment services, conducted a survey of 1,028 HR and finance personnel in more than 100 countries in early November. Some 54% of respondents said that employees expressed a significant level of concern about the impact of economic turmoil on their retirement investments.
Still, 83% of respondents said they do not expect their companies to reduce the level of employer contributions to defined contribution retirement plans. Many respondents (77%) expect to review investment and administrative fees, possibly due to pressure from regulators as well as the decline in investment values, according to the survey.
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For defined benefit plans, the focus is primarily on understanding and reducing risk, Mercer noted. Changing investment strategy (46%) is the most likely method companies will take to reduce risk rather than changing funding policies (31%). Twenty-four percent of respondents are considering cutting back or stopping accruals, but only 4% say they are very likely to do so.
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