Gen Y Wants Financial Advice in Workplace

MetLife’s Employee Benefits Trends Study found that overall, 51% of workers are interested to access to financial planners at work (see “Study Finds Employer-Worker Disconnect about Advice“). The youngest generation in the workforce is no exception: Fifty-two percent of Gen Y (born between 1977 and 1987) respondents are interested in having their employer provide access to financial planners to help with retirement planning.

This might explain why Gen Yers are open to more financial advice: In terms of their general finances, more than half (53%) of Gen Y employees said they are now living paycheck to paycheck—up from 50% in 2007—versus 44% of their older associates. Nearly three in four (73%) are very concerned about having enough money to make ends meet, compared to 56% of Generation X employees and 62% of Baby Boomers.

In addition to being interested in access to financial planners, 45% of Gen Y respondents are interested in getting workplace access to benefits advisers, according to the study. The same number of surveyed Gen Y employees said that because of the economy, they have a greater interest in understanding their workplace benefits.

One reason employers would want to offer the services of a financial planner or benefits adviser is to retain employees. According to MetLife, benefits satisfaction has a positive relationship with job satisfaction. In fact, among employees across all generations who said they were highly satisfied with their benefits, 73% were also satisfied with their jobs. Only 22% of those employees who were not satisfied with their benefits were satisfied with their jobs.

The MetLife study, conducted by fielded by GfK Custom Research North America, is based on research interviews conducted during August and November 2008 among benefits decisionmakers and full-time employees age 21 and over.

The full study is available at whymetlife.com/trends2009.