Many companies sponsoring a defined contribution (DC) plan like a 401k or 403b employ people that don’t come to the office often or even ever. Yet communicating with them is essential not just to help these remote workers maximize their retirement benefits but also for compliance reasons. A plan sponsor at a TPSU program held at Vanderbilt University lamented about some of the issues she faces with 400 of her company’s 450 employees working outside the corporate office.
The plan sponsor is a trucking company and, not only are a vast majority of them are on the road, they tend to change jobs frequently and become hard to reach. After an audit, she realized that many beneficiary forms were missing and, worse, should be retained for seven years. Though the plan sponsor uses the CB or qualcomm system to communicate with truckers on the road, they are not able to communicate or find workers who had left the company.
TPSU Adjunct Lecturer Daniel Bryant from Sheridan Road offered other solutions like using videos posted on YouTube or even the company’s website to better communicate with employees. Videos are turning out to be more impactful than written communications especially if employees know the person on the video like the HR person or the plan’s advisor. Not only can they be useful for administrative issues like getting beneficiary forms, they can help employees learn about ways they can boost retirement income.
For example, 401kTV was asked recently by an advisor working with a major city’s police department to help the plan’s administrators communicate some of the resources available to their workforce like access to a financial planner at no additional cost. The administrators, former policeman themselves who most workers know, were able to simply communicate that everyone had access to the plan’s advisor who would meet with them at their homes as most people did not come to a central location, especially the offices where the plan is run. The short and simple videos recorded and produced by 401kTV had a great impact. Why not use more videos with a message from you to reach your employees?
With Millennials now making up the greatest percentage of the workforce used to receiving information on their mobile devices, mostly through pictures and videos, and a more transient workforces in what is becoming a “gig economy”, plan sponsor, advisors and advisors have to upgrade and rethink their entire communication strategies to keep up.
