Fred Barstein, CEO & Founder, TPSU/TRAU/401kTV with Adjunct Lecturer, Eric Kaufman – Alliant Retirement Consulting
The integration of retirement plans into the broader employee benefits strategy is increasingly acknowledged as a crucial element in fostering a positive workplace culture and enhancing employee satisfaction. Historically, retirement benefits and other perks like health and welfare benefits have been managed separately, leading to a fragmented understanding of their impact. However, by adopting a holistic approach, employers can recognize the interconnected nature of these benefits and their collective influence on employee well-being and job contentment. This shift in perspective not only aligns with employee priorities but also strengthens the organization’s ability to attract and retain talent.
When retirement plans are integrated into the overall benefits strategy, it sends a powerful message to employees that their future financial health is a priority for the organization. This can lead to increased loyalty, engagement, and motivation among employees, as they perceive the company as invested in their long-term success. Additionally, offering a comprehensive benefits package that includes robust retirement benefits can give employers a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top talent, particularly in industries where employee benefits play a significant role in job decisions.
Furthermore, integrating retirement plans with overall employee benefits allows employers to make more strategic decisions about resource allocation. By understanding the collective impact of various benefits on employee satisfaction and retention, employers can tailor their benefits offerings to better meet the needs and preferences of their workforce. This targeted approach not only maximizes the effectiveness of benefits programs but also enhances the overall employee experience, contributing to a positive workplace culture characterized by trust, loyalty, and mutual respect.
In a recent dialogue at the TPSU program hosted by The University of Southern California, Fred Barstein, CEO and founder of TRAU, TPSU, and 401 KTV, engaged in a discussion with Eric Kaufman, an industry expert with Alliant, emphasizing the importance of integrating retirement plans with overall employee benefits. Kaufman, drawing from his 29 years of experience, highlighted the disparity between employee and employer priorities, with employees often ranking 401(k) plans highest. This conversation highlighted the need to view benefits holistically to enhance job satisfaction, organizational culture, and the employer-employee relationship.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
Greetings. This is Fred Barstein, CEO and founder of TPSU. We just completed a program here on campus at USC, and I’m here with one of our adjunct lecturers, Eric Kaufman. Welcome Eric.
Fred Kaufman:
Thank you, Fred.
Fred Barstein:
Okay, if we ask you a few questions?
Fred Kaufman:
Please.
Fred Barstein:
Okay. Before we do, tell our 401k TV audience a little bit about yourself and your firm.
Fred Kaufman:
Well, I’m with Alliant. I’ve been in the industry for 29 years, and I’m a unique broker consultant in the industry. I help people not only with their retirement plans, but their employee benefits.
Fred Barstein:
Right. So that’s the question I know you talked about today is the importance of looking at benefits in its totality. What does that really mean?
Fred Kaufman:
What it means is bridging the gap between the employee’s perspective of benefits and the employer’s perspective. The employer tends to silo their benefits, they manage and think about and operate the employee benefits in one silo with an internal team and resources dedicated to that. And then they have a different team often doing the retirement plan. But if you look at the studies from employees perspective, the employees don’t view their benefits that way, there’s benefits and then they rank the benefits within that subset. The number one benefit they always pick is 401k. That’s the most important benefit to them. That’s the most important benefit for most employees. It’s the health and welfare benefits that are second or third on that list, and they tend to be the most important for your employees that are sick or experiencing health issues. That’s a small subset of a total population. What happens is employers will spend all their time where the money is and the money is in employee benefits because it’s very expensive to offer-
Fred Barstein:
They’re writing a check.
Fred Kaufman:
They’re writing a big check, it affects the P&L. The 401k doesn’t have that same impact, but it has a much bigger impact on culture, job satisfaction, how the employees view the employer relationship. And so what we try to do is bring a total benefit perspective to the discussion. As we’re talking about the trade-offs in between health and welfare and retirement plans, where are you devoting your internal dollars and resources to get the most out of your strategic investment, your tactical decisions and your execution. And if you silo it, you’re constantly fighting it, whereas if you unsilo it, you can get a much better internal and external outcome with your employees.
Fred Barstein:
And it differs from organization to organization.
Fred Kaufman:
Absolutely. Some organizations are high turnover and you have a different conversation. Other organizations have people that work till they die and so you want to be able to build that type of loyalty by, again, bridging the discussion and having a unified benefit conversation. Underneath the unified conversation you can engage in very specific strategies, tactics, and execution, but it always starts with a uniform global vision of employee benefits, health and welfare, and retirement.
Fred Barstein:
So final question. Why should a plan sponsor attend a TPSU program?
Fred Kaufman:
They should attend them, and they should attend them regularly because of, not only the adjunct professors that you bring in, which I’m honored to be one, but also other industry resources, bringing the most relevant current information and the best ideas. And then they sit with their peers and engage in an exchange on what’s working and what’s not working. No one ever leaves here without learning something very valuable that they can take back and immediately apply to their organization.
Fred Barstein:
And they don’t get to talk to their peers like that very-
Fred Kaufman:
They do not get to talk to their peers like that.
Fred Barstein:
They’re in their own little ping pong ball and they don’t get to see it.
Fred Kaufman:
And if they do go talk to their peers, it’s usually some industry event and it’s a different dynamic. This is an educational setting, people come here to learn and the entire program is to help them be better at what they’re trying to accomplish in their jobs.
Fred Barstein:
That’s why we have it at a university.
Fred Kaufman:
That is exactly why.
Fred Barstein:
All right, well thank you for your time and thank you for being a lecturer. Thank you for watching 401k TV. Stay tuned for more programs like this.
