Morgan Stanley study shows employees seeking beefed-up benefits

Employers better not be stingy with their financial benefits because workers are paying more attention to their compensation plans, according to a new Morgan Stanley report.

The firm's second annual Workplace Financial Benefits Study released Wednesday showed 60% of employees say they're focusing more on their financial benefits compared to a year ago. The survey revealed that a near unanimous 96% of workers agree that their company should ensure it offers the best benefits available in their industry, a figure in line with the views of human resources professionals surveyed.

Furthermore, the study showed that employees are seeking additional benefits, even though more executives say they are already offering quality financial benefits. According to the study, 84% of HR leaders, up from 78% in 2021, recall a recent time when “an employee has requested a specific type of financial benefit that their current company does not offer.”

The data reflect July surveys of 1,000 employed U.S. adults and 600 HR company leaders.  

“In 2021, the effects of Covid were still being felt by many employees when it came to their finances, yet now in 2022, we face a new set of challenges and a very different economic environment," Brian McDonald, head of Morgan Stanley at Work, said in a statement. "Amid persistently high inflation, many employees are seeking help managing their short and long-term financial needs, such as budgeting, reducing debt, building emergency savings and planning for retirement.”

McDonald added that “many employers are stepping up to tackle these challenges, yet there remains more work to be done.”

The report reflected those unmet challenges, showing that both employers and employees agree there's more work to do. Almost all the HR professionals surveyed (96%) say “their company needs to do a better job helping employees understand how to maximize the financial benefits offered to them,” a slight increase from a year ago (93%).

On the other side, employees largely agree with those HR leaders, with 89% saying their company needs to do a better job helping employees maximize financial benefits, once again up from 2021 (87%).