PLANSPONSOR - September - October 2023 - 34

PARTICIPANTS
" As open enrollment season
approaches, plan sponsors should
be looking at ways to communicate
to participants the connections
between health and wealth ... "
money] in the plan, or rolling it to a successor's
plan or an [individual retirement
account], " Collinson says. " The option to
avoid is cashing out the account and paying
income taxes and potential penalties. "
While most
plan
sponsors
are
starting now to think about their goal
setting for next year, they should also
remember an upcoming opportunity to
increase engagement, even before 2024.
As open enrollment season approaches,
plan sponsors should be looking at ways to
communicate to participants the connections
between health and wealth and how
the benefits in each area can work in
concert with each other, Steele says.
" We see a number of clients, " she
continues, " that are looking to fold in
retirement messaging at that time-
[when] participants are engaged with
their decisionmaking about health-care
and health and wellness benefits, getting
them to consider the retirement plan as
well. "
The 'Right Level' at
The 'Right Time'
For plan sponsors finding it too late to
put together such a campaign, now is the
time to start planning for next fall.
" One of the things we talk about
with plan sponsors is having the right
level of education at the right time, " Lind
says. " When we're looking at enrollment,
we're thinking about it in terms of adding
fuel and reducing friction: How do we get
rid of the impediments, when people are
trying to enroll, and give them the right
information at the right time? "
It is important for plan sponsors to
keep in mind that, while engagement is
important, in most cases the ultimate
goal is improving the outcome, Lind
says. For example, during a recent test
of messaging, Ascensus
learned that
one approach doubled traffic to the site
but only resulted in 50% of participants
increasing their contribution rate, while
another approach drove only 70% more
traffic but also led to a 70% increase in
people boosting their saving rate.
Once plan sponsors have determined
which plan engagement goals are
the most important to them, they can set
targets for what might be a successful
engagement campaign. A plan sponsor
focused on contributions rates, for
example, might want to see the average
rate increase by a certain percentage,
while a plan sponsor concentrating on
beneficiary designations might aim for a
certain number of employees naming or
updating their account beneficiary.
" Having the goals and then being
able to measure against them with
metrics is what matters, " Workman says.
" That's how we make sure we're tracking
the goals that the client wants to measure
and assessing progress on a regular basis. "
-Beth Braverman
More Plans Consider DEI in Goal Setting
MANY organizations are assessing how they can use plan design
and other tools to help their retirement plans adjust for diversity,
equity and inclusion.
" DEI is a really important lens to look through, and making
sure that the plan is accessible to everybody, " says Scott Lind of
Ascensus.
A majority of plan sponsors responding to the Callan 2023
Defined Contribution Trends Survey indicated an interest in
expanding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, but only one in
10 respondents were formally tracking DEI metrics within their
plan, due in part to limits on the collection of such data from
payroll or recordkeeper systems.
But plan sponsors are looking for other ways to approach
the issue, such as reviewing plan literature for unconscious bias
or connecting with employee affinity groups to set up workshops
or other programming for specific employees. Plans are
34 PLANSPONSOR.COM September - October 2023
also increasingly making their materials available in multiple
languages if they have a large population of non-native English
speakers and making sure the digital experience is accessible to
people with disabilities, Lind says.
Such strategies reflect a growing awareness of the systemic
barriers that hinder some minorities and other underrepresented
groups from acquiring financial securities, experts say. Black
and Hispanic households, for example, have significantly lower
ownership rates of investments than do their white peers, even
when their incomes are comparable, according to the Treasury
Department's Office of Economic Policy.
" Different groups have different needs, " says Jana Steele
of Callan. " In prior years, that wouldn't necessarily have been a
consideration. But plan sponsors are becoming more conscious
of it-especially with the larger plans, plans that have more than
$1 billion in assets. " -BB
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