Employees ‘Rethink, Redesign’ Retirement Amid Economic Pressures

Some U.S. adults have altered their definition of retirement, which recent studies show may have been necessitated anyway by economic pressures. While that redefinition may provide some sense of normalcy to people switching to delayed and gradual retirements, employers and advisers still have the ability to help their workforces make ends meet.

‘Redesigning Retirement’

F&G Annuities & Life Inc.’s Retirement Reconsidered survey found that 51% of pre-retirees said they planned to semi—but not fully—retire. The study, released today, found that about 75% of pre-retirees said they have considered or are delaying their retirement date, up from 70% who said so in 2025.

F&G’s survey, which collected responses from U.S. adults at least 50 years old, stated that Americans older than 50 are not only “rethinking” retirement today, but “redesigning” it. More than half (53%) of respondents agreed the journey to retirement is “becoming more flexible,” and 60% of pre-retirees said they viewed retirement as a “gradual transition over time” rather than a “single milestone.” Only 21% of pre-retirees said they associated retirement with “stopping work completely.”

“Our findings reinforce that retirement is no longer a one-size-fits-all journey,” wrote Ron Barrett, F&G’s chief distribution officer, in an email. “For plan sponsors and advisers, this highlights an opportunity to rethink how they support individuals as they approach retirement, recognizing that the transition may involve working fewer hours, pursuing part-time opportunities or gradually stepping away from the workforce altogether.

A Workforce Under Pressure

As the definition of retirement becomes less clear-cut, respondents to F&G’s survey indicated that economic pressures have increasingly impacted their retirement decisions. Some 57% said economic events of 2026 impacted their retirement planning, up from 49% who said such events affected them in 2025.

The top concerns influencing F&G respondents’ retirement planning decisions included running out of money during retirement (52%), the availability of Social Security (46%), the price of healthcare and long-term expenses (43%), and the availability of Medicare (31%).

Meanwhile, WTW’s 2026 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey, the findings of which were also released today, found that financial well-being among U.S. employees has deteriorated in the past several years in the face of ongoing cost-of-living pressures. The share that said they felt financially secure fell to 36% this year from 46% in 2019.

Employees in their 40s reported feeling the least secure (30%) among respondents, with 42% saying they are “struggling financially” and 53% “living paycheck to paycheck.” Even more—69%—reported expecting their generation to be “much worse off” in retirement than their parents’ generation.

In addition, some 41% of retiree respondents reported delaying or skipping doctor visits in 2025 due to money worries.

Financial Stress Shows Up at Work

WTW’s survey demonstrated that financial strain manifests among employees at work—not just at home—through lost productivity. U.S. employees under high financial stress reportedly burned out at more than twice the rate of those under low stress: 46% versus 21%. Members of the high-stress group also reported that they lost 23.6 days to absence and presenteeism, compared with 11.7 days lost by those employees reporting low financial distress.

“The data [show] there is a price tag [for employers] beyond [healthcare] claims,” says Courtney Stubblefield, WTW’s strategy and specialty leader of health and benefits.

Another survey, summarized in Payroll Integrations’ “Employee Financial Wellness Report 2026,” also released today, reported that 38% of respondents said financial stress has strongly affected their mental health at work. In addition, some 31% said it strongly affected their productivity on the job.

Some 45% of employer respondents to the Payroll Integrations’ study reported turnover in the past year that they primarily attributed to employee dissatisfaction with pay or benefits. Meanwhile, some 63% of employees reported having considered changing jobs because of financial concerns.

In addition, some 17% of employees reporting high financial stress in WTW’s survey said they hold a second job, in contrast with 5% of those in the low-stress who reported having a second job.

Financial stress caused 26% of respondents to Payroll Integrations’ survey to take a second job, 13% to miss work, and 41% to become distracted or less productive at their job.

But taking a second job does not seem to be the answer to workers’ financial woes, according to Stubblefield. The second job may be “eating up their time, adding more stress and not necessarily covering the fixed expenses.”

What Helps?

Even as respondents to F&G’s survey embraced greater flexibility regarding how retirement looks, they also demonstrated a strong preference for financial certainty and predictability. Three-quarters of respondents said they would rather have financial certainty and predictable income, even if it limited their investment growth potential. Some 67% of respondents said they felt the need to invest or increase their investment in products that deliver guaranteed income in the future.

When asked what their employers should improve, WTW’s U.S. respondents ranked “core benefits” first. Respondents named healthcare; retirement; paid leave; mental health support; and disability and income protection as the benefits that mattered most to them. Two-thirds of respondents said benefits were important reasons to join their employer, and 67% said benefits were an important reason to stay with their employer.

Some 62% of respondents to Payroll Integrations’ study said higher pay or cost-of-living adjustments would do the most to improve their financial wellness, while 41% cited advancement opportunities and performance bonuses, and 36% selected more paid time off and more mental health days. The proportion of respondents who said they were interested in budgeting and saving tools dropped to 11% in 2026 from 44% last year, while interest in having access to a financial adviser fell to 13% from 35%.

WTW surveyed 41,000 full-time employees globally, including 6,000 U.S. employees, from February through May.

F&G’s data collection was conducted by Censuswide, which collected responses in August from 2,001 U.S. adults at least 50 who were “decisionmakers” for household finances or who shared decisionmaking and had at least $100,000 in investable assets.

Payroll Integrations collected data online in September among 229 full-time U.S. employees and 100 U.S. employers who were at least 21.