Employee benefits and retirement plans: driving engagement through financial clarity

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Desjardins research shows employees have savings goals, but without clarity, workplace retirement plans tend to struggle to turn intent into action

EIGHTY-FOUR PERCENT of employees say they have a savings goal.1 Engagement with workplace retirement plans, however, tells a different story. The Desjardins September 2025 survey1 points to a consistent pattern. Across 1,000 Canadian plan members, a familiar gap emerges: intent isn’t moving into consistent behaviour. At its core, financial empowerment reflects an individual’s ability to manage their day-to-day finances sustainably while making progress toward longer-term goals, as Desjardins sees it. Without that clarity, even well-intentioned plans can stall. The findings suggest that perhaps it’s a lack of vision that’s holding people back. About half of respondents are engaged in their group retirement plan, but that number shifts meaningfully depending on whether employees have a clear sense of their financial future. Taken together, the survey1 findings provide a structured view of the factors shaping engagement within workplace retirement plans.

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The role of financial direction in plan engagement Among Canadian group retirement plan members, engagement rises to 59 percent for those with a defined sense of their future and falls to 24 percent for those without one.1 In fact, 73 percent of respondents say they have a fairly/very clear vision of the future that guides their financial decision-making, but this proportion drops drastically to 18 percent when focusing only on those with a “very clear” vision of the future.1 In other words, nearly three-quarters of people know at least “roughly” where they’re headed, but only one-fifth have established a very clear direction.

Organizations tend to perform better when employees feel financially secure.2 That points to an opportunity − one where the right plan design and provider support could make a meaningful difference. It is not only about offering a retirement plan but about creating the conditions where employees can act on their intentions, build a plan, and follow through on it. This is where the partnership between employer and plan provider becomes particularly important. The constraint isn’t access or intent; it’s execution. Employees have goals, but engagement depends on whether they can turn them into actionable steps. The question for plan sponsors is, what moves employees from intention to action? Where financial clarity shapes engagement at work That question is becoming harder to answer in the current environment. More broadly, employees often point to the cost of living and the uncertainty of long-term planning as barriers to taking action. Many say the cost of living and broader economic conditions3 are factors that can slow their progress. Others highlight the difficulty of planning over longer horizons, given the possibility of unforeseen events.4 But these barriers are not fixed. For employers, the issue is less the external environment and more whether employees have a clear sense of direction within it − an area where plan design and communication can play a role.1 The link between financial empowerment and job satisfaction is often acknowledged, but it is less often defined in practical terms. The connection works through a sequence: when employees develop a clearer vision of their financial future, they are more likely to engage with the tools available to them;1 that engagement builds confidence in their decisions; and that confidence, in turn, supports a more positive relationship with their work and workplace. Employees without a clear financial direction tend to show lower engagement with their plan. As a result, available tools and resources may go underused. Greater clarity could help shift that behaviour.1 Survey findings suggest that employees who can articulate a long-term financial goal are more likely to engage with their plan and see it as an important lever to achieve their goals and use available tools. Eighty-nine percent of highly engaged members report having a goal, compared with 77 percent of those who are less engaged. The gap widens over longer horizons, where 73 percent of engaged members have long-term goals versus 56 percent of those with lower engagement.1

A more direct link to retention How that challenge is addressed can have direct implications for retention. If engagement is tied to clarity, then offering a plan can be seen as the starting point. A plan provider can connect contributions to projected outcomes, reinforce financial education over time, and encourage the use of planning tools, so that these elements become part of the plan experience. The connection between benefits and retention is often framed through competitiveness, with employers benchmarking their offerings against peers.

Published May 11, 2026

But there’s a deeper reason: financial stress is not something that sits outside the business. It shows up inside it.2 The opportunity is not about asking employers to do more but about ensuring the right conditions are in place so that employees can move from intention to action. That is where the role of the plan provider becomes central. A well-designed group retirement plan, supported by ongoing communication, accessible tools, and relevant education, could do much of this work without adding to the sponsor’s workload. The goal is to create an environment where financial empowerment happens naturally, where employees are guided toward clarity, and where engagement builds over time through the structure of the plan itself. The organizations that embrace this approach are not necessarily taking on a new burden. Together with their plan provider, they can ease sources of friction that may otherwise compound over time, and in doing so, contribute to strengthening the foundation their performance depends on. Visit the group retirement savings page to explore how plan design, communication, and support can work together to strengthen engagement over time.

Practical levers to strengthen engagement

Start with the outcome, not the product. Clarify what the plan is meant to achieve, not just how it works.

Reinforce financial education over time.

Link long-term goals to near-term decisions.

Encourage use of tools.

73% of engaged employees have long-term savings goals, while only 56% of less-engaged employees do.

Confidence supports better decisions; better decisions reinforce engagement.

Engagement builds understanding; understanding builds confidence.

How engagement builds financial empowerment

Engagement can build confidence, which can compound Forty percent of highly engaged plan members report feeling very confident in their financial decision-making, compared with 29 percent among those who are less engaged.1 Confidence can support action. Action then can reinforce confidence. This relationship is not linear. It operates as a reinforcing cycle. Group retirement plans, by their nature, create an environment where confidence can develop through action. Completing an investor profile, setting a contribution level, reviewing statements, using tools like simulators, and tracking how savings grow over time are all moments that ask employees to make a decision and observe its impact. Over time, that repeated engagement has the potential to strengthen participants’ confidence in their own financial decision-making.

As the Desjardins survey1 suggests, when confidence grows, employees are more likely to stay engaged. Over time, that cycle supports more consistent savings behaviour and stronger decision-making. In turn, that confidence makes further engagement more likely. Tools that are used with more intent and planning shift from something deferred to something maintained. This is where the idea of financial empowerment becomes more precise. For employers, that cycle has broader implications. Financial clarity does not operate in isolation. It shapes how employees approach their work, their future, and their relationship with the organization. Across Canada, some organizations have already addressed access.5 Group retirement plans are widely available and often supported with digital tools and educational resources.6 The remaining challenge is use. The Desjardins survey highlights a disconnect between the presence of a plan and the extent to which it is integrated into employees’ financial decision-making.1

Notes

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Desjardins, 2025. Group Savings Plans as a Tool for Building Financial Independence: A Study on Participant Engagement. Online survey conducted by Ad hoc Research July 16 to 24, 2025, among 1,000 Canadians aged 18 to 64 who have access to a group retirement savings plan other than a defined benefit plan. Government of Canada, Sept. 2025. Why your employees’ financial well-being matters. Bank of Canada. Monetary policy report – April 2025 – Canadian economy. Policy Horizons Canada, June 2022. Future lives. Government of Canada. Statistics Canada. Pension plans in Canada, as of January 1, 2024. Meera Raman, Feb. 2026. More Canadians have workplace pensions, but many are making a big mistake.

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