PLANSPONSOR - June/July 2021 - 2

Kudos!
INSIGHTS
PUBLISHER: Alison Cooke Mintzer
alison.mintzer@issmediasolutions.com
A
s I do every year, I'd like to commend our latest class of PLANSPONSOR
Plan Sponsor of the Year winners and finalists! The winners, profiled in
this issue, and finalists, profiled online, have stories they are rightfully
proud of, especially in light of having worked through such a tumultuous year-a
year in which we were reminded of the importance of secure employment and the
necessary inclusion of the workplace retirement program in securing Americans'
financial stability.
I've noted before that when we judge retirement plans for these awards, we
must be cognizant that crafting a retirement plan is an art, not a science. As shown
by the wide array of those recognized in our awards programs-including Plan
Sponsor of the Year and Best in Class 401(k) Plans-and those in our editorial
coverage, there is no single " right " way to design a retirement plan.
As judges, we must consider each employer not necessarily against its competitors
but in its own context, examining things such as plan size, industry type,
employer type, number of locations, etc. A retirement plan at a Certified Public
Accounting (CPA) or law firm has different expected metrics and faces different
challenges than the same-size plan at a retail company, for example.
In reviewing submissions early this year, it was widely apparent that the
pandemic affected all retirement plan sponsors and participants in some way, but
not to the same degree. While some sponsors were able to continue with business
as usual, others may have had initiatives they'd been planning get interrupted.
Sponsors might have had to make hard decisions, such as suspending their
matching contributions, or, conversely, found that the pandemic was pushing them
to make planned improvements or even allowing them to increase contributions.
Retirement plan success is a journey, not a destination. A plan must have
solid building blocks, such as strong participation, good saving/deferral rates
and a variety of well-priced investment options-all managed in accordance with
proper process and governance standards. It should be competitive with those at
companies of a similar size or in the same or a similar industry. And lastly, it must
consider the needs of its participant demographics-the design working for the
company's hourly, salaried, full-time and/or part-time workers, across ages and,
more frequently, languages.
As plan sponsors are confronted with disparate participant sets-for example,
participants who have optimism for the future, along with those who are struggling
and therefore delaying retirement-they must balance such dichotomies as they
determine the right plan design and education. After a year in which retirement
saving might have been put on the back burner for participants, now is an especially
good time to evaluate plan design. No matter the plan size or industry, there is a
success story within these pages and online that can provide actionable takeaways
for other plan sponsors facing similar challenges.* Enjoy these stories, and we hope
to see your plan among our winners in the future! -Alison Cooke Mintzer, Publisher
*Many of this year's finalists and winners were panelists at our recent virtual
PLANSPONSOR National Conference (PSNC), recordings of which are still available
online through late September. If you missed the conference, I encourage you to sign up
and watch the sessions.
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PLANSPONSOR - June/July 2021

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