Employers that offer retirement savings benefits report higher levels of employee productivity over the past year and have greater optimism for the future, according to the Canadian Employer Pension Survey, a survey of 845 Canadian employers by HOOPP and Maru/Matchbox.

In addition, employers that offer retirement savings benefits believe it is very important to recruitment, retention and helping employees manage stress.

“The survey found that a majority of employers see a connection between reducing employees’ financial stress and productivity,” said Steven McCormick, SVP, Plan Operations, HOOPP. “And a majority also agree that it’s important to offer retirement benefits to reduce stress.”

He added: “Employers value the various benefits that they offer, but there appears to be a positive association between offering retirement benefits and improved productivity.”

Specific findings included:

• 73% of employers agree that employees feeling financial stress are less productive. 76% agree it is important to offer benefits that will reduce employees’ financial stress.
• The vast majority of employers who offer retirement benefits say they are very or extremely important to recruitment (83%), retention (86%) and the stress management of employees (85%).
• Among companies offering any sort of retirement benefits, 44% say employee productivity has been better than normal over the past year. This was significantly better than among companies not offering retirement benefits, of whom 29% say productivity improved.

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