Fewer than 1 in 5 women workers say they feel very confident about being able to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle, according to a Nov. 19 report from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Transamerica Institute.
As part of that, more than 4 in 10 women are currently or have previously served as caregivers during their working careers. Among those, 85% have made work adjustments due to caregiving, the report found.
“The gender pay gap and time away from the workforce for parenting and caregiving limit a woman’s lifetime earnings, her ability to save for retirement and her access to valuable employer and government benefits,” Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of the Transamerica Institute, said in a statement. “Statistically, women tend to live longer than men, so we need to save even more for older age.”
Half of mothers in the “sandwich generation” say they’ve left jobs due to caregiving duties for both children and adult dependents, according to a report from Motherly and the University of Phoenix Career Institute. Flexible work, caregiver leave and educational support could help improve caregiver retention and performance, the report found.
In the Transamerica survey of more than 10,000 workers, more than 4 in 10 women said they expect they’ll need to provide financial support to family members when they’re retired. However, only 1 in 4 women said they have a financial strategy for retirement in a written plan.
Half of women said they expect to retire after age 65 or don’t plan to retire, and 53% plan to work in retirement. Among those who plan to retire after 65 or work after retirement, 83% cite financial reasons.
In addition, women pointed to retirement fears such as outliving their savings and investments, Social Security being reduced or ended, declining health that requires long-term care, not being able to meet the basic financial needs of their family and cognitive decline.
To help improve women’s retirement, employers can enhance their business practices and benefit offerings to be more inclusive of women’s needs, Collison said.
More than two-thirds of workers say they don’t have enough saved to meet their retirement needs, even if they work until retirement, according to another Transamerica Institute survey. Employers can help workers understand their financial situation and what to do post-employment, experts told HR Dive.
Although most employers believe their employees are prepared for retirement, less than half of workers agree, according to a PNC Bank report. Most employers said workers’ financial stress has a negative effect on operations, though they said financial stress levels have improved from previous years.