2025 PLANSPONSOR Participant Survey

PLANSPONSOR’s 2025 Participant Survey findings shed light on how employees engage with their workplace retirement plans, revealing trends that can help plan sponsors design more effective and supportive retirement and benefits plans.

The survey included both full-time and part-time employees who are current participants in their employer’s retirement plan. The respondent pool was slightly overweighted male (55.8%) and included participants ages 18 and older, with 69.4% in their 30s or 40s. One can therefore assume that many of the respondents are balancing career growth with family responsibilities, making retirement planning a critical—yet often competing—priority, as the results for benefit preferences showed.

Respondents had high levels of education: 32.6% hold postgraduate degrees such as an MBA, J.D. or M.D., and another 31.1% are college graduates. Most agreed that they will achieve their retirement goals by age 65.

Participants expressed interest and value in financial wellness programs, agreeing that employers have a responsibility to improve employee financial wellness, perhaps showing that participants are aware of a need to better understand complex financial concepts to make better decisions. Of what would be most valuable in a financial wellness program, employees most reported wanting access to financial coaches (57.4%), with 43.3% noting they already have access to some in-person guidance.

Contributions and Savings Behavior

When it comes to household income, the most common range reported was $100,000 to $149,999, representing 23.7% of participants. Research often finds that those in the middle-to-upper-income bracket are likely to be actively saving, but also juggling other financial practicalities such as homeownership, education and health care.

Across the participant pool, deferral rates vary widely, which may lead to concerns about whether the oft-cited savings targets of 10% to 15% of income (including company contributions) are being met. Nearly 40% of participants reported contributing less than 5% of their income to retirement plans, while only 17.7% said they contribute more than 10%.

The most common reason participants gave for their current contribution rate was simply accepting the default option (39.7%). This underscores the power of plan defaults and automatic enrollment features. Another 30% of participants said they wanted to maximize their employer’s contribution, again reinforcing the effect of employer plan design in determining employee deferrals. Employers interested in increasing participant contribution amounts may look to change their automatic enrollment or escalation targets, or to reconsider their match formulas. It is worth noting that 36.4% of respondents said they increased their deferral rates in the last year; perhaps some did so to maximize the matching contribution they received.

Hypothetical Preferences and Trade-Offs

Each year, the PLANSPONSOR Participant Survey asks respondents to choose between two options in a list of financial trade-offs. This year, many of the trade-offs had a fairly even split, with one option gaining only a slight advantage. However, there were a few that stood out due to more significant preferences.

When asked whether participants preferred receiving $1,000 to support paying down student debt or to be put into a health savings account, the HSA was preferred by 60.8% of respondents. However, when that $1,000 to an HSA was put against a $1,000 contribution to an emergency savings account, 62.4% preferred the latter. From that, one might infer that, overall, employees most need support in building an emergency savings account, or that they appreciate funds with the most flexibility in usage.

The other scenario that had a clear winner was related to retirement income options. When asked, participants clearly favored a one-time $10,000 contribution (61.6%) to guaranteed lifetime payments of $250/month, starting at age 65. While this may reflect a desire for flexibility and control, it also points to a potential gap in understanding the value of lifetime income solutions.

Ultimately, the 2025 survey responses provide insight into participant needs and remind plan sponsors of the importance of understanding employee behavior and preferences. With more understanding of participant values and needs, employers can improve financial wellness and help their workforce improve retirement outcomes.