During the DC Plan Summit, participants broke off into small groups to discuss the major challenges facing plan sponsors. Here are some highlights of the sessions and key takeaways for participants:
Moderator: Jean-François Pelletier, regional vice-president, Quebec, group retirement services, Sun Life Financial
Topic: Retirement readiness in the DC world
For many plan sponsors, income replacement isn’t the typical measure of a plan’s success. Instead, the focus is on investment performance, fees and plan member engagement. But if employees can’t afford to retire on time, employers may face challenges around workforce management as mature workers stay longer than they had anticipated. Is there a shifting conversation towards an outcome-focused approach to the retirement readiness of employees?
Key takeaways:
It’s more difficult to plan for an average retirement age in a defined contribution environment. Therefore, it’s harder to put a talent management system in place.
Many plan sponsors said most employees aren’t concerned with retirement and are shocked when it comes time to retire. Given the mismatch between expectations and reality, there’s a need to make the value of savings easier to understand.
Many plan sponsors aren’t incorporating financial wellness as part of their overall offering. However, if employees aren’t healthy financially, there may be adverse impacts.