Willis Towers Watson has some new insight on how to help defined contribution plan participants thrive in 2020.
The authors of a new paper at WTW note the trend of soaring DC plan assets in recent years (rising about 90% between 2007 and mid-2019) is driving more innovation, more focus on compliance and competitive fee structures.
To help address the challenges ahead in 2020, the paper has action step recommendations for DC plan sponsors in three broad areas—financial wellbeing, investments and plan compliance.
While the full paper is available here, what follows is a summary of the recommendations in each of the three areas.
Financial wellbeing
• Measure workforce financial stress. Before rolling out a financial wellness program, WTW says employers should first measure the financial stress of their workforce, something many leading employers have already taken several steps toward completing.
Focus groups and pulse surveys help employers understand employee preferences. And detailed workforce analytics can provide a view into which employee segments are financially struggling and why. By identifying employee preferences and needs, sponsors can remove the guesswork and…
