‘Women Who Earn More Are Less Satisfied With Their Benefits,’ per The Standard

Women reported being less confident than men in their understanding of personal finances—that is, until their incomes rise, according to new research from The Standard Insurance Co.

“Women Who Earn More Are Less Satisfied with Their Benefits” reveals that as women earn higher salaries, they report less satisfaction with their employee benefits. Employers should tailor benefits education and financial literacy programs for income and life stage in an attempt to fix this, the researchers suggested.

“Creating programs for benefits education and financial literacy based on employee segments such as gender, life stage and income can help companies attract and retain female workers,” the report stated. “Employers should consider leveraging [artificial intelligence] to develop targeted resources. Doing so would lighten the burden on HR and save businesses from having to significantly alter their benefits packages.”

Women as Benefits Providers

Women across all income levels tend to be the primary benefits plan provider in their households, The Standard found. Despite reporting lower confidence in their financial knowledge than men, women were nearly as likely as men to report actively learning about money matters.

Women were thirteen percentage points less likely (55%) than men (68%) to say they are “knowledgeable about the financial system.” However, they were only six percentage points (61% versus 67%) less likely than men to state that they actively try to learn about finances.

The less women earn, the more likely they are to be the primary benefits plan holder: 62% of women with household incomes greater than $200,000 reported being the plan holder at home, compared with 72% of those earning less than $50,000.

But because women with lower incomes tend to have less financial confidence, they may be making important benefits decisions without the information they need, the report indicated. Twenty-four percent of women in the lowest household income bracket reported having financial savviness, compared with 34% of men. Meanwhile, slightly more women (42%) than men (41%) in households in the highest income bracket reported savviness.

High Income, Low Satisfaction

As women’s salaries grow, they tend not only to be less satisfied with their benefits, but to feel their career and family-size options shrink.

Of women with household incomes greater than $200,000, 42% said they want to change careers but that it is not economically feasible to do so, compared with 40% of those making between $100,000 and $199,000, 38% bringing in $50,000 to $99,000, and 35% earning less than $50,000. Women in the highest bracket were also the most likely to say they want to have more kids but could not afford it. They were the second-most likely (behind the next-lowest income bracket, by one percentage point) to report staying at their job even though it is not their “passion.”

Moreover, with greater financial savviness comes greater expectations for benefits.

Of women surveyed who reported themselves as highly financially savvy, 42% said they struggle to understand the benefits available for all members of their household. The proportion of those with moderate savviness who say the same dropped to 36%, then fell 10 percentage points (to 26%) for the least savvy.

Women most strongly reported that employers should give more thought to caregiving when designing benefits packages: 75% of the most financially savvy women believed this, compared with 50% of the least savvy, indicating how heavy caregiving responsibility weighs on the highest earners.

In response, employers can leverage women’s inclination toward financial literacy to drive smarter benefits decisions, The Standard suggested.

In addition to empowering smart benefits decisions through financial wellness resources and tailored benefits education, companies should provide the information as an opportunity to support high-performing female employees.

“It’s likely that women in this group are high-performing team members who employers will want to retain and develop,” the researchers stated. “Evaluating benefits packages to ensure portfolios meet the varying needs of workers is a way to keep talent, including top female employees.”

A third-party research firm conducted an online survey from March 10 through March 27 of 5,000 participants, most of whom received some employee benefits at the time the survey was conducted.