The survey of 730 executives who subscribe to the Crain publications Pensions & Investments, Business Insurance, Financial Week and Workforce Management shows that 42% of respondents believe loans from defined contribution plans will increase in 2009, while 29% believe such loans will remain level. Thirty-eight percent believe hardship withdrawals from defined contribution plans also will increase in 2009.

     The survey also found that 60% of respondents think employer costs for benefits will increase under President-elect Barack Obama's administration, and 32% believe they will remain the same.

     Respondents also were confident about the future of matching contributions from companies with defined contribution plans. Roughly 63% believe the employer match is unlikely to decline, while just 17% believe it will.

     The percentage of total benefit costs plan participants will pay in 2009 is expected to increase slightly, according to the survey. About 30.4% of employees are expected to pay less than 20% of total benefit costs, compared with 35.2% in 2008. And the percentage of employees paying from 31% to 40% of the total costs is expected to jump to 15.2% in 2009 from 11.7% in 2008.

     Marina Edwards, a senior consultant with Towers Perrin in Chicago, noted that the survey revealed 51% of executives listed their defined contribution plans as an important part of their benefits package. Executives also said 31% of rank-and-file employees consider DC plans important.

     "There's a lot going on with DB plans and executive pay, and it's a pleasant surprise to see that DC plans are being viewed as important as they are," Ms. Edwards said.

     "The question is: Will we see a marked increase over [that] gradual increase?" Ms. Edwards said. She said that despite market turmoil, employees are continuing to invest. She attributed the trend to employee education about retirement and automatic enrollment programs.

     "I'm hoping the participant education that plan sponsors have been working on in the last five to 10 years will stick," she said.

     Sara Taylor, a health and welfare product strategy leader for Hewitt Associates, a human resources outsourcing and consulting firm in Lincolnshire, Ill., said medical benefits are still the most important to employees. Ninety-eight percent of executives responding to the Crain's Benefits Outlook survey said non-retiree health care was an important or very important part of their employees' and their own benefits packages.

     The category ranked the highest among 12 categories that also covered retiree health care; defined benefit pension plan; defined contribution pension plan; paid time off; life insurance; short-term disability insurance; long-term disability insurance; dependent care flexible spending account; health-care flexible spending account; supplemental retirement benefits for executives; and stock options, restricted stock or stock grants.

     "[Health care is] a complex decision to make," Ms. Taylor said, adding that for many employees it's a personal decision because of their relationship with their doctors.

     The increasing cost of health care also has made the category an important part of benefits packages, Ms. Taylor said.

     She also said she has noticed the trend of employees paying closer attention to whether their health-care needs will be met in retirement. The Crain's Benefits Outlook survey shows 53% of executives consider retiree health care important or very important. Respondents said 49% of their rank-and-file employees consider it important or very important.

     Ms. Taylor said so-called health and welfare benefits—401(k) and health-care plans—are the most important, and employers are encouraging employees to focus on the two areas.

     "They are trying to say, ‘If you have limited dollars to spend, then spend them here,' " she said.

     "We've seen some DC vendor reports that looked at trends in hardships and loans, and they report a cyclical trend," Ms. Edwards said, noting that it's not uncommon to see increases in such withdrawals and loans near the beginning of the year because of property taxes, federal income taxes and holiday shopping putting a cramp in workers' budgets. "The combination of those bigger-ticket items can present themselves as hardships."

—Crain's Benefits Outlook Online, December 2008