PNC data reveals the gap between employee confidence and real financial preparedness
Benefits ROI measurement has climbed sharply among US employers, but the programs sitting behind that scrutiny are failing to reach the workers they were designed to help — and the productivity cost is landing on the bottom line.
Sixty-five percent of employers now measure the return on investment of their benefits programs, up from 51 percent a year earlier, according to PNC Bank's 2026 Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report. The same report found that while 71 percent of workers felt confident creating a savings plan, only 33 percent demonstrated high proficiency in foundational financial knowledge — a gap that covers investing, retirement planning, healthcare costs, and emergency savings.
That disconnect is not abstract. Eighty-five percent of workers said they worry about personal finances during the workday, spending an average of 3.5 hours a week on those concerns. Employers reported the effects through reduced productivity, borrowing from retirement plans, requests for pay advances, and wage garnishments.
The confidence trap in financial wellness
The finding that most workers feel confident but cannot demonstrate basic financial competence is the central challenge for HR leaders trying to justify financial wellness spend. A program employees do not use, or misuse, does not show up in the ROI data as a failure — it simply disappears.
Kaley Keeley Buchanan, executive vice president and head of PNC Financial Wellness Solutions, put the gap plainly: "Our research continues to show that many workers feel confident managing everyday financial decisions, but confidence doesn't always translate into long-term preparedness. When employers help employees build financial knowledge and connect them with guidance and resources, they can support stronger financial outcomes while helping employees get more value from the benefits available to them."
The pattern tracks with what HRD has reported on benefits utilization and the hidden cost of programs employees never touch — employers absorbing costs for tools that, without active communication, go unused.
The retirement gap HR leaders should be tracking
The retirement readiness numbers in the PNC report deserve particular attention. Three-quarters of employers said their workers were at least somewhat prepared for retirement. Only 45 percent of workers described themselves that way, and just 10 percent said they felt very prepared. Fifteen percent said they did not believe they would ever be able to afford to retire.
That employer-employee perception gap is a governance issue, not just a communications one. HR leaders reporting retirement readiness figures upward to the C-suite without validating them against employee self-assessment are working from data that overstates program effectiveness.
Cost pressure is shifting what employers prioritize
The ROI measurement push is happening against a background of significant cost-consciousness. Lockton's 2026 National Benefits Survey found that 54 percent of employers now rank reducing costs as the most important factor in benefits decisions, up from 38 percent in 2025. Attracting and retaining talent fell to 19 percent — a reversal that reflects how much the benefits conversation has shifted inside 12 months.
That cost focus is putting direct pressure on financial wellness programs, which are among the first examined when finance teams ask what spending is delivering. The PNC data suggests the answer is mixed: only 32 percent of employers currently offer financial education benefits, while 57 percent of workers without access said they would use them if available.
PwC's 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Survey offers a useful counterpoint. Among employees whose organizations offered financial wellness services, 83 percent of Gen Z workers and 79 percent of millennials used them to help control spending, reduce debt, or increase savings — suggesting utilization problems are more about access and communication than employee disinterest.
What HR leaders can act on
The PNC findings point to three areas where HR teams can close the gap between measurement and impact. The first is aligning financial wellness communication to life events rather than the benefits calendar — a mortgage, children, or a change in household income are the moments when employees are most likely to engage. The second is validating retirement readiness data against employee self-assessment, not only employer assumptions. The third is treating access as a prerequisite for engagement: programs employees do not know exist produce no ROI regardless of how well they are designed.
As HRD has previously reported, people analytics is giving HR leaders the tools to make this kind of case to the business in real time — the data to show cost-benefit analysis on wellness investment is increasingly available to those who pursue it.
"Employers continue to invest in benefits, but the real opportunity is helping employees understand, access and use those benefits in ways that improve financial outcomes," Buchanan said. "By aligning benefits with employees' needs and measuring outcomes, employers can help build a more financially resilient workforce."
