DC plan sponsors need to step up their support for plan members, suggests Towers Watson’s Retirement Attitudes Survey.
No matter how you slice it, being asked if you’re normal can be disconcerting. But pension plan sponsors seem to have no qualms asking members to declare if they are normal. And provincial pension regulators aren’t shying away from the practice either.
Considering the importance of communication as a performance driver for employee engagement, plan sponsors with culturally diverse workplaces should give special consideration to the language they use to communicate with their plan members.
Everybody likes money, and everyone likes a good story. This should be welcome news, considering the alarming level of financial ignorance among DC plan members and our obvious inability to address and engage a captive audience in clear need of financial education.
Don’t reject tried-and-true benefits communication methods in exchange for exclusive use of the latest technology. DuPont Canada hasn’t. The global science company relies on good old-fashioned mail and a phone hotline—in addition to more modern online processes—to ensure that its retirees have all the information they need to make their annual benefits choices.
A recent study from the Montreal-based Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations found that those who use outside financial planning advice see their assets grow over time by 1.58 to 2.73 times more than those who act alone. An estimated 10 million Canadians use the help of professionals working at financial institutions, brokerage […]
Canadian employers are skeptical of their employees’ understanding of their company-sponsored capital accumulation plan (CAP) and/or supplementary retirement plans (SERP), a new study from Buck Consultants has found.
What do you do when you have a growing funding shortfall, an apprehensive membership, and virtually no communications infrastructure or budget? You set up a Facebook page, of course—at least that’s what Gord Graham, executive director for the Auto Sector Retirees Health Care Trust (asrTrust) did.
In the post-financial crisis world, perhaps plan sponsors can forgive DC plan members for wanting to hide their savings under the mattress. Slow GDP growth, volatile equity markets and eurozone fears could be considered good reasons to keep money out of the markets.
Marc Poupart, divisional vice-president, pension and retirement programs, with Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), discusses his company's extensive DC retiree base.