In today’s labor market, retaining top talent is a financial priority as much as a people priority. According to Gallup, replacing an employee can cost twice the person’s annual salary. Compounding that impact is the fact that more than 1 in 3 employees have left or considered leaving their job in the past year—up 5 points from 2025.

So what’s keeping employees in their seats? Competitive workplace benefits rank among the top three reasons employees choose to stay with their current company, according to Bank of America’s 2026 Workplace Benefits Report.

HR leaders who build flexible workplace benefits packages can better position their companies to attract and retain top talent. But what do those packages include, and how can leaders ensure their employees actually leverage them? We partnered with Bank of America, one of the top leaders in the space, to find out.

A focus on personal finance

Employees are looking for benefits that support their whole lives, including health plans, caregiving benefits, wellness reimbursements, and menopause support. But they’re also focused on their long-term financial security, and they’re increasingly looking to their employers for support. Bank of America found that saving for retirement is a top financial goal for 70% of employees, followed by growing their emergency savings, which is a priority for 44%.

These savings goals have led to notable progress: 73% of employees feel confident that their retirement savings are on track, up 6 points from last year. Gen Z is starting to save for retirement a full decade earlier than Boomers did, at age 24 vs. 34 for Boomers. And more employees are hitting their emergency savings benchmarks. These trends indicate that workers are making real progress on both long- and short-term financial priorities.

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