Helping employees save and prepare for retirement has taken on amore urgent tone for employers this year, according to a newsurvey.

Human resource solution provider Aon Hewitt recently surveyedmore than 425 U.S. employers, representing 11 million employees, todetermine their current and future retirement benefitsstrategies.

Eighty percent of respondents said they are making financialwellness a top priority in 2013. Sixty-one percent are lookingbeyond current participation and savings rates and are helpingworkers evaluate their retirement readiness, up from 50% in 2012,Aon Hewitt said.

Additionally, 86% of companies said they plan to focuscommunications initiatives on helping workers evaluate andunderstand how much they need to save for retirement.

To help workers reach their retirement goals, employers continueto offer and promote the use of investment advisory tools, according to Aon Hewitt. Seventy-sixpercent said they currently offer target-date funds as a way toprovide workers with a simple and straightforward approach toinvesting. Of those who do not offer target-date funds, 35% saidthey will likely add this option in 2013.

Managed accounts and online third-party investment advisoryservices also continue to gain popularity at 64%, up from 40% in2012.

To get retirement readiness messages out to employees, some companiesplan to turn to social media, podcast and text messages.

The percentage of plan sponsors that plan to use social media channels to communicate with workers has tripledfrom 6% in 2012 to 18% in 2013, the data showed. Fifty-two percentwill use podcasts and 42% will use text messages to communicate andeducate their workers on their retirement benefits this year.

“Employers understand that financial wellness is more than whatworkers are doing today in terms of savings in their retirementprograms – that it's evaluating whether their long-term investmentstrategies are positioning them to be ready when it comes time toretire, and whether other priorities are getting in the way,” saidPatti Balthazor Björk, director of retirement research at Aon Hewitt in Lincolnshire, Ill.

Taking another looking at their defined contribution planfeatures, employers are also striving to make investing easier andmore accessible. Thirty-seven percent of the survey's respondentssaid they have recently reviewed the total DC plan costs includingfund, recordkeeping, and trustee fees. Among those who have not,95% are likely to do so in 2013.

Thirty-five percent of employers completed a review of DC fundoperations, including fund expenses and revenue sharing while 87%plan to do so this year. Thirty-one percent of employers recentlychanged their DC plan fund lineup to reduce costs and more thanhalf (52%) of the remaining companies may do so in 2013.