For plan sponsors wondering what they can do to help diverse workers increase their retirement savings, a new paper outlines plan features and strategies that can help bolster savings for underserved workers.

In Improving Retirement Readiness for Underrepresented Groups, Alight explains that employers have benefited from a diverse population of employees, as these individuals brought unique perspectives to the workplace. These employees have also brought a wide range of retirement savings behaviors that have not necessarily led to positive outcomes, however.

From a race and ethnicity perspective, the paper cites long-term data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the number of non-white U.S. workers has doubled since 1979 and currently stands at a quarter of the workforce, with the Hispanic portion growing from 5% to 18%. What’s more, over the last several decades, women increased from about a quarter of the civilian work force to nearly half. In addition, about 10 million U.S.-based workers have a disability and over 5% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+, including one out of every six members of Gen Z, Alight notes.

Meanwhile, companies which have been focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) have realized significant benefits to their bottom line. Citing data from McKinsey & Company, the paper notes that employers in the top quartile of diversity among their executive teams achieved profitability that was 36% higher than those in the bottom quartile.

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