At a TPSU program held at Rice University in Houston, the HR Director for a not for profit private school helping children with disabilities explains who she and her staff are trained to be able to educate employees about their 403b plan rather than just rely on third party vendors.
Though many 401k and 403b plan sponsors rely on advisors and providers to help with employee education and advice, the HR director at TPSU felt like it was important to educate the staff to be able to help employees to understand the 403b plan and how to maximize the benefit.
The HR Director believes that the school’s employees’ might trust the staff more than a stranger and might open up more, especially if the staff member has personal knowledge about the worker.
At a TPSU program held at Queens University in Charlotte, NC, the VP of HR at AAA of the Carolinas explained how her group leverages employees participating in the 401k plan to speak with others becoming what she calls “401k Champions.”
Selecting from a cross section of their employee base, these 401k Champions are educated by the company’s provider to go out and talk about the benefits and features of the 401k plan but obviously not providing investment advice. They go out on shop floors traveling to branch offices pairing Champions with employees like them and participating in all group meetings.
AAA’s 401k Champions also speak with senior management about the company’s retirement plan becoming the voice of the 401k plan.
Though leveraging providers to help with education and to provide individualized advice is essential, supplementing these efforts with staff engagement can amplify the effort. Sometimes administrators of 401k and 403b plans get overwhelmed by the complexity and time it takes to run their organization’s retirement plan given other priorities, but just a little bit of common sense – and knowledge – can go a long way.
