The 71% succession gap in executive benefits

PLANADVISER first reported the findings of the 2026 NFP U.S. Executive Benefits Trend Report, conducted by NFP, an Aon company. Its central finding is an uncomfortable gap: 81% of surveyed organizations cannot afford to lose their top talent, while 49% have not put executive benefit strategies in place to support leadership transitions and 71% do not explicitly design those benefits around succession planning.

Retention still rules the category. Fifty-four percent of employers called it the top factor in their executive-benefit decisions over the past year, and 56% expect it to lead again in the year ahead, while succession planning and leadership continuity sit second, at 47% for the past year and 45% for the coming one. The report also found that 62% of employers say planning for employees in key leadership roles will be a major focus as those employees approach retirement, and that the programs already in place are working: 99% of organizations say executive benefits have retained top talent, and 94% say the programs helped attract key employees, but one in five organizations say their current strategies fall short on flexibility.

Tony Greene, president of NFP's executive benefits division, wrote to PLANADVISER that executive benefits are becoming part of a much bigger conversation. For years these programs were mostly about retention, he said, but employers are increasingly thinking about leadership transitions and the long-term success of the organization, and deferred compensation is increasingly being used to support leadership continuity, tax planning, and long-term workforce flexibility. His advice to advisers: identify the organization's key people, plan years in advance, and start with what the organization is trying to accomplish, not with a product.

The adviser opportunity sits between the 81% of organizations that cannot afford to lose top talent and the 71% that do not design benefits around succession. The 71% figure is the one to bring into the next planning meeting with a business-owner client, because it converts a benefits discussion into a business-continuity discussion that will cost the company the most if it waits until the owner retires. The pattern echoes the advisory succession wave this publication has argued is shaping the coming decade — many owners, few written plans — except here the unplanned departure may be the chief operating officer or the revenue driver, not the founder. The likely next step is compensation built around named successors. A deferred-comp plan that pays out only if the executive stays through the transfer and helps the new leadership team land. Greene's advice points the way: do not start with the product, start with who drives value and what happens if those people leave. The adviser who starts there is solving a problem 81% of surveyed organizations say they cannot afford to have.