Key employees, those most critical to a business, show positive signs for saving enough for retirement, according to new research from Principal Financial Group Inc.
 
Nearly all key employees surveyed indicate they will either increase (37 percent) or maintain (58 percent) contributions to their employers’ nonqualified deferred compensation plans in the coming year.
 
Of those planning to increase contributions, almost eight in 10 (78 percent) say they believe in the success of their employer, an increase of 14 percentage points from the 2010 survey results.
 
The survey of American workers participating in nonqualified deferred compensation retirement plans and their employers was conducted by the Boston Research Group and Principal.
 
Though key employees report optimism about their employers, the same does not hold true for their view of the economy. In the recently published Principal Financial Well-Being Index, key employees (41 percent) are significantly more pessimistic than all other employees (28 percent) when it comes to their sentiment regarding their economic outlook for the rest of 2011. And, seven in 10 (72 percent) key employees think the economic outlook for 2012 will be the same or worse.