For many HR teams, retirement plan oversight is competing for attention with an already crowded list of responsibilities. That pressure is helping drive new interest in pooled employer plans (PEPs) and other group retirement arrangements that can shift some of the administrative and fiduciary workload away from the employer.
At a recent TPSU program at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, Fred Barstein spoke with Mark Manderson, Senior Vice President at Marsh McLennan Retirement and Practice Leader for the Southeast Region Retirement Advisory Practice.
Manderson discusses why PEPs and MEPs generated significant interest among attending plan sponsors, particularly as HR teams face growing demands across retirement, healthcare and other employee benefits. By outsourcing certain administrative functions and delegating some fiduciary responsibilities, group plan structures may offer employers an opportunity to reduce complexity while maintaining appropriate oversight.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein: Greetings. This is Fred Barstein, founder and CEO of 401kTV and TPSU. I just completed a TPSU program at the University of Georgia Terry College of Business here in Atlanta, and I’m here with our adjunct lecturer, Mark Manderson. Welcome, Mark.
Mark Manderson: Thank you very much, Fred.
Fred Barstein: Okay if I ask you a few questions?
Mark Manderson: Yes, absolutely.
Fred Barstein: Before we do, tell us a little bit about yourself and your firm.
Mark Manderson: Yeah, sure. Thank you. My name is Mark Manderson. I’m a Senior Vice President with Marsh McLennan Retirement, and I’m the Practice Leader of our Southeastern Region Retirement Advisory Practice.
Fred Barstein: Great. So today, Mark, we had a presentation and also a lot of interest about group plans, like pooled employer plans. Just give us briefly, what’s the benefit and what are you seeing out there in the market?
Mark Manderson: Yeah, it was interesting. That was a topic we highlighted for our session today — group plans, PEPs, MEPs, all the different flavors of it out there.
There was a lot of interest in the room, kind of a surprising amount of interest, as we’re seeing the retirement plan recordkeeping industry continue to evolve.
It’s an interesting new topic where the plan sponsors that were in the room — you could see them kind of thinking about, “Is this something we need to look at a little bit more?”
They’re looking for more education. I think more questions came out of that than answers, and that’s a good thing.
Fred Barstein: Absolutely. And it was a really, really good session today. What do you think are the two or three biggest benefits of a plan using a PEP, joining a PEP, or a MEP?
Mark Manderson: Most of the HR teams that we work with are stretched very thin. We had a whole session today also about how they’re stretched on the healthcare side, and it’s sucking up a lot of time, resources and energy.
I think the PEP concept does help alleviate some of those stresses — less administrative responsibility, especially when it comes to year-end processes, and then also just being able to delegate away some of that fiduciary responsibility.
Obviously, the plan sponsor still has to manage that through the process, but being able to delegate away some of that was definitely of interest to them.
Fred Barstein: Great. So final question: What’s the biggest benefit you think for a plan sponsor to attend a TPSU program?
Mark Manderson: So often, people are in a silo. They see one view of what’s going on in benefits strategy and the retirement plan world. They’re locked into their world of what they’re focused on.
Being able to come to TPSU, hear from their peers at many, many different companies and get their viewpoints on things — I think it helps unlock new ideas for them and kind of resets some habits, maybe.
Fred Barstein: Great. Well, thanks for supporting TPSU, and thank you for watching 401kTV. Please stay tuned.
