Voya adds emergency savings accounts

The out-of-plan solution can be added to workplace offerings.

Voya Financial, in partnership with Millennium Trust Company, is offering its retirement plan clients a way to help employees save for emergencies through a workplace emergency savings fund.

To encourage their clients’ employees to build a savings cushion so as not to have to tap retirement accounts, Voya created an offering with Millennium Trust that includes optional automatic saving through payroll deductions, along with a plan sponsor’s ability to make employer contributions through an employer match or ad hoc contributions.

[More: Emergency savings: The next workplace benefit]

Voya said that it will help drive participation in the plans through enrollment and engagement campaigns, and there will be ongoing support from Millennium Trust to help implement and manage the program.

“Our research shows that retirement plan participants with inadequate emergency funds are 13 times more likely to take a hardship withdrawal from their retirement account compared to those that indicated they have an emergency fund,” Jeff Cimini, a senior vice president at Voya Financial, said in a press release.