Nearly half of US organizations have not implemented any executive benefits strategies to support leadership transitions, NFP's 2026 US Executive Benefits Trend Report has found. The same organizations overwhelming say they cannot afford to lose key employees (81%) and 99% say their executive benefits have successfully retained top talent.
The tools work. However, the plan is missing.
The report drew on responses from 273 executive benefits decision-makers across the US. It found that 71 percent of organizations do not explicitly design executive benefits around succession planning. The gap is most pronounced in the mid-market, where limited infrastructure pushes succession into reactive territory.
"Many organizations know exactly what is at stake, but knowing isn't the same as being ready," said Tony Greene, president of NFP's Executive Benefits division in New York. "The planning window is closing faster than many organizations realize, and retaining key employees has to move to a formal continuity strategy."
Half of organizations report that key employees are working longer than planned, often past traditional retirement age. Some stay out of continued engagement. Others stay because current savings do not support a comfortable exit. The anticipated average retirement age has shifted to between 65 and 67 years old, according to the report.
Those extended tenures create a bottleneck. Senior leaders staying longer block advancement for the next generation and delay knowledge transfer. The so-called silver tsunami of baby boomer retirements is still building and is not expected to peak until 2030, but its pressure on leadership pipelines is already visible.
For organizations where transitions are beginning to occur, regulatory changes are adding new complexity for highly compensated employees. Under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act 2.0, or SECURE Act 2.0, employees aged 50 and older earning roughly $150,000 or more must now make catch-up contributions on an after-tax Roth basis, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) confirmed in May. That change removes a key planning lever for executives who rely on qualified plans to manage tax exposure.
Nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans are increasingly filling that gap. Unlike qualified plans, NQDC arrangements are not subject to the Roth catch-up requirements. The report found that 82% of employers say NQDC plans have a high or moderate impact on plan success.
Satisfaction with deferred compensation plans has improved steadily, from 69% in 2024 to 76% in 2026, according to the report. That improvement tracks the growing emphasis on participant education and plan personalization.
Only 28% of key employees fully understand their executive benefits, according to the report. Twenty-three percent of employers plan to increase education around NQDC plans in the next 12 to 18 months as a direct response. Others are expanding access to financial planning and advisory support.
The pattern aligns with what brokers advising on executive benefits are increasingly hearing. The conversation around succession, deferred compensation, and tax planning for highly compensated employees is growing more complex. More clients are asking for help structuring benefits that go beyond retention to prepare for the transitions ahead.
"The organizations that get ahead of this forthcoming leadership transition won't treat executive benefits as standalone programs," Greene said. "They'll connect leadership transition planning, employee education and flexible plan design so they can prepare for what's next instead of reacting to it."
Cybersecurity adds a further dimension. Seventy-nine percent of organizations say their cybersecurity concern has increased over the past 12 months, driven by the growing integration of AI, digital administration tools, and third-party platforms into executive benefits administration. Only half feel confident their organizations can manage data security risks as AI becomes more embedded in plan administration.
The 2026 report's core message for brokers advising on executive compensation is that the strategic role of these benefits is shifting. Organizations are moving away from static executive benefits structures and toward more integrated approaches. The goal is to connect retention, succession readiness, regulatory compliance, and long-term workforce planning into a single strategy rather than treating them as separate concerns.
