Fred Barstein, CEO & Founder, TPSU/TRAU/401kTV with Patricia, Plan Sponsor/HR Director
Mobile apps play a pivotal role in enhancing retirement plan participation, particularly among younger employees, for several reasons. Firstly, the familiarity and convenience of using mobile technology in various aspects of life make these apps a natural choice for managing retirement plans on the go. The accessibility provided by mobile apps allows employees to stay informed about their contributions, investment choices, and overall plan details anytime, anywhere, fostering regular engagement. Instant updates and notifications contribute to real-time communication, keeping employees abreast of important changes or actions required.
Moreover, integration with other employment-related features, such as payroll information and benefits, positions the retirement plan as a central component of their overall employment experience. The educational resources embedded in mobile apps, including tools and calculators, serve to educate employees about the significance of retirement planning, motivating them to actively participate and make informed decisions. With a user-friendly interface tailored to younger generations and interactive features like investment simulators, mobile apps create an engaging and seamless experience, aligning with the preferences and habits of younger employees and potentially increasing their understanding and participation in retirement savings.
Following the conclusion of The Plan Sponsor University (TPSU) Fiduciary Education Program at UCLA, Fred Barstein, CEO of TPSU and 401kTV chatted with Patricia, the HR director at a small engineering manufacturing company with 90 employees. Patricia emphasized the transformation brought about by a company portal’s mobile app, providing easy access to employee information, paychecks, benefits, and, crucially, the retirement plan. The app, developed by the record keeper, proved instrumental in engaging younger employees who had previously underutilized the portal. Patricia’s insights underscore the value of technology in enhancing retirement plan visibility and accessibility, especially when tailored to the preferences of a tech-savvy workforce.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
Greetings. This is Fred Barstein, CEO, and founder of TPSU and 401kTV. I’m here on the beautiful campus of UCLA, where we just completed a TPSU program, and I’m here with Patricia. Welcome, Patricia.
Patricia:
Thanks.
Fred Barstein:
Okay if we ask you a few questions?
Patricia:
Yes.
Fred Barstein:
Okay. Before we do, tell us your first name, number of employees, and your role at your organization.
Patricia:
Okay. My name is Patricia. I’m the HR director at a small engineering manufacturing company, and we have 90 employees.
Fred Barstein:
90 employees. Great. So one of the things you talked about that seemed to be very effective was mobile apps. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Patricia:
Well, we have a company portal that we encourage everyone to use because it has all of their information, their PTO, their paychecks, their benefit information, and a lot of people weren’t using it until they came up with a mobile app for this.
Fred Barstein:
I see.
Patricia:
And once they got the mobile app, the retirement plan was automatically connected to it. So then they could have easy access, not only to all their employee information, but to their retirement plan.
Fred Barstein:
Did you create the app or no?
Patricia:
No, it’s created by our record keeper.
Fred Barstein:
Oh, that’s wonderful.
Patricia:
It is wonderful because what we found is the younger employees, they never went on the portal. They’d always come to me with information. I’d say “It’s on the portal. Just look.” Once they had the mobile capability it changed everything.
Fred Barstein:
It’s funny how everybody has a mobile phone these days, right?
Patricia:
Yes.
Fred Barstein:
Well, that’s a great story and it’s also a lesson for all of us to be able to do that. Final question for you, a couple of things you might’ve learned today, and would you recommend TPSU?
Patricia:
Well, one thing I learned again was fiduciary responsibility. It’s pretty impressive and you have to know it and understand it. And even if you were exposed to it earlier, we were reminded again today. So it was very valuable. The other thing is, what’s most useful at these seminars is all the other companies, you can see what they’re doing and how it works for them and what’s not working. That is so useful. But the best thing is the knowledgeable speakers that you have, the data that they have is new. So if you’re in your own bubble, working in your own job, you’re not exposed to this information until you come to something like this. And to have the experts here to tell you what’s working, what’s not working, what you should probably try to do, it’s invaluable. So I highly recommend any TPSU seminar. I’ve been to a couple of them, and it always improves our plan.
Fred Barstein:
Very good. Well, thank you for that. And thank you for your time today. And thank you for watching 401kTV. Stay tuned.
