PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 21

PLAN BENCHMARKING | COVER STORY
course. " But if your 401(k) plan is going to be your marquee benefit
from a recruiting and retention perspective, then you need to go a
little bit outside the norm in your thinking. "
There is an ongoing evolution away from graded vesting and
vesting schedules that last longer than three years, Ming says.
" I think the market dictated it. There is a move to simplicity in
vesting-either three-year cliff vesting or immediate vesting-
so employees will understand it. Employers want employees to
completely understand what they're getting. For three-year cliff
vesting, it's clear to employees that they're either 0% vested or
100% vested. "
Employers increasingly choose shorter vesting because
of the realities of turnover and the intensity of the competition
for talent, Greenleaf says. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data
released a year ago September found that wage and salary workers
had been with their current employer for a median of 4.1 years.
" Employers recognize now that employees aren't going to work
for them until the day they die, and many leave within a fouror
five-year time frame, " she says. " We've seen many employers
move toward three-year cliff vesting, and we've seen employers
that are struggling to recruit new employees move to immediate
vesting. " She says people value that more, versus an employer
that has something like a six-year graded vesting schedule, which
a younger person anticipating a career with numerous employers
may not see as having much value.
* Add ancillary savings programs. General saving-
including having enough money to pay their living expenses and
to put something away for emergencies-ranked first among fulltime
U.S. employees when they were asked about their key current
financial priorities for Willis Towers Watson's 2019/2020 Global
Benefits Attitudes Survey. Paying off debt ranked second, ahead of
saving more for retirement, which was third.
The recent economic volatility has made these even more
pressing issues, Smrecek says. " What we're seeing is that
employees' current financial situation is being prioritized over
long-term savings, " he says. " Our clients' employees are saying
that being able to meet their day-to-day needs-expenses such as
housing, transportation, food and health care-and their emergency
savings are priorities. It's not until people feel comfortable
that they can meet their basic needs that they consider their longterm
needs for retirement savings. " So, many employees likely
value getting help now with short-term financial issues more
than help that will benefit them many years from now.
Employers interested in helping employees with emergency
savings, for example, are focusing on three different options,
which have increasing levels of employer involvement, Smrecek
says. First, and most simple, they can provide education that
promotes the value of emergency savings. Second, they can offer
access to an emergency savings program that allows employees to
save via a payroll deduction. And third, he sees more employers
making a contribution to subsidize employees' participation in an
emergency savings program. " These employers are thinking about
how to provide value [both] to workers who are contemplating
joining their company or are already working there, " he says.
Cafaro Greenleaf is actively talking to employers about
adding programs such as student debt repayment, Greenleaf says.
To contend with the competition, " employers are trying to get out
of their comfort zone of how they think about their benefits, " she
says. " But the reality is that these [ancillary saving] programs aren't
getting widely implemented yet by our clients, because employers
are struggling with how to implement them. Partly that's because
of recordkeeping issues, partly it's because of payroll-provider
issues, and partly it's because they aren't sure what percentage of
their employees would take advantage of them. "
* Facilitate coaching to alleviate financial
stressors. It has become common for employers to offer access
to personalized financial coaching for employees. Coaching
usually focuses on building good financial habits and helping
employees with issues such as the need to spend smarter and
manage debt, Smrecek says. In contrast, advising more typically
focuses on developing a plan to build or create wealth, he adds.
Asked what financial well-being services they provide, 61%
of respondents in the Willis Towers Watson Global Benefits
Attitudes Survey said they offer their employees access to financial
advisers for coaching that targets current financial stress
and achieving well-being. The survey did not ask whether these
services include help from a Certified Financial Planner (CFP),
Smrecek says, but many organizations that provide the services
utilize coaches who have a CFP designation.
" What we find with one-on-one coaching is that services
focused on an employee's day-to-day financial needs can
be tremendously valuable in helping the take-home pay the
employee gets work for the employee, " Smrecek says.
Many of the decisions that financially struggling people
have to make are complicated and intertwined, such as figuring
out how to pay living expenses plus both credit card bills and
student debt. " The decisions they make are critical to keeping
their head above water, financially, " Smrecek says. An impartial
expert coaching someone can help that person sort through the
options and simplify decisionmaking.
Providing access to one-on-one coaching can aid an employer's
competitive positioning, Parrish says. " If an employer offers
something such as [individual] access to a CFP once a year, that's
a benefit that would be really attractive to employees, " he says.
" If an employer can say, 'We want to help you with both your
short-term and long-term financial well-being, and here's [how],'
I think that will appeal to people. "
The challenge for employers considering such coaching is
who is going to pay for it, he adds. " When they look at how to
attract and retain employees, employers say, 'Yes, we want financial
wellness.' Their dilemma is that they also think, 'No, I don't
want to pay for it.' " -Judy Ward
PLANSPONSOR.COM October - November 2021 21
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PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021

INSIGHTS
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
RULES & REGULATIONS
UPFRONT
To Attract and Retain
2021 DC Plan Benchmarking Survey
Investment Appraisal
The Evergreen Discussion
Retirement, by Auto-Pilot
FIDUCIARY FORUM A Useful Gauge
INSIDE ANGLE ESG for Fiduciaries
PLAN PROFILE Picture of Health
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - Cover1
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - Cover2
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 1
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 2
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 3
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - INSIGHTS
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 5
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 7
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - RULES & REGULATIONS
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 9
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 10
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 11
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - UPFRONT
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 13
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 14
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 15
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 16
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 17
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - To Attract and Retain
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 19
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 20
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 21
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 2021 DC Plan Benchmarking Survey
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 23
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 24
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 25
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 26
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 27
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 28
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 29
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - Investment Appraisal
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 31
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 32
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 33
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - The Evergreen Discussion
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 35
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - Retirement, by Auto-Pilot
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - 37
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - FIDUCIARY FORUM A Useful Gauge
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - INSIDE ANGLE ESG for Fiduciaries
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - PLAN PROFILE Picture of Health
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - Cover3
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2021 - Cover4
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