Every plan sponsor wants to
provide a well-managed, competitive employee benefits and retirement plan that
delivers a secure retirement for its employees.
A key challenge for plan sponsors
that have expended a great deal of effort in striving to deliver a high
quality, highly valued retirement plan is determining how to measure the
success of the plan.
Benchmarking
An ideal way to develop goals to measure a plan is
to benchmark the plan and compare it to comparable employers or those that it
considers to be in its peer group. This peer group is typically defined as the
other employers with which the plan sponsor competes for talent. Comparative
plan surveys can provide benchmarking information that can offer insights as to
how the plan is performing and serving the needs of its participants.
Comparing the survey information with the plan's
statistics enables the plan sponsor to identify, quantify and establish
measurable goals to improve their plan.
By setting goals and timetables to achieve those objectives, plan
fiduciaries can better monitor the overall health of their plan to meet
participant satisfaction.
Role of the Recordkeeper
Recordkeepers have extensive statistical
information on the plan that can be used to set up metrics and to monitor
success. Maintaining and compiling plan
statistics is an important service that the plan's recordkeeper can
provide. It is well worth using a recordkeeper
with robust systems that can record and track key plan metrics necessary to measure
and monitor trends in the plan and progress toward meeting its goals.
Role of a Retirement Plan Advisor
The retirement plan advisor can work with plan
sponsor and the recordkeeper to establish metrics, set goals and evaluate
results. They can advise the plan sponsor in developing
objectives, milestones and an implementation schedule. These metrics can be specific, quantifiable
goals to be achieved according to a timeline and used to measure the
improvement in their plan's success.
The retirement plan advisor should introduce best
practices for promoting plan success:
- Monitor trends in participation rates
- Seek to improve contribution rates
- Prudently offer a menu of investments that promote asset allocation and diversification
- Educate participants with the goal of achieving financial literacy
- Promote retirement readiness
- Identify and monitor trends
- Innovate with plan design
- Benchmark against peers and innovative plans
Following a consistent process for implementing and
measuring success enables plan sponsors to see positive trends that are both
rewarding to the participants and the employer.
