The Importance of CEO Engagement in 401(k) Plan Management
In today’s corporate environment, the involvement of leadership in managing company benefits, especially 401(k) plans, is becoming more critical. When top executives, such as the CEO, actively participate in the decision-making process around retirement plans, it sets a precedent for employees to take their investments seriously. This level of engagement from leadership not only ensures that the plan remains aligned with the company’s financial goals but also encourages employees to maximize their contributions for long-term security. CEO involvement, particularly in areas like fund selection and quarterly reviews, helps create a retirement culture that benefits both the employees and the company.
This active participation was highlighted during an interview with CEO & Founder, Fred Barstein and Ana Fejerang, HR Director at CliniComp International, following a recent TPSU program in San Marcos, California. Ana shared how her CEO’s commitment to the 401(k) plan empowers employees and helps the company implement essential features like automatic enrollment and annual contribution increases.
Read Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
Greetings. This is Fred Barstein, CEO and founder of TPSU. We just completed a program here at CU San Marcos, California University at San Marcos, and I’m here with Anna. Welcome Ana.
Ana Fejerang:
Thank you.
Fred Barstein:
Okay if we ask you a few questions?
Ana Fejerang:
Of course.
Fred Barstein:
And before we do, tell our audience about you, and your role, and the size of your organization.
Ana Fejerang:
My name’s Ana Fejerang. I’m the Human Resources Director at CliniComp International, and we have a company size of 150 employees.
Fred Barstein:
Great. So one of the things you said that caught my attention, Ana, was your CEO gets involved with the plan. What does he do or she?
Ana Fejerang:
Yeah, him. Yes, he. He’s very much involved in the quarterly committee review meetings.
Fred Barstein:
Right.
Ana Fejerang:
Specifically, he takes a real genuine interest in making sure that the plan is successfully working for our employees, and he’s very much involved in making sure that we have the right funds that are appropriate for our company and that they’re doing well. So, he’s genuinely engaged and invested in making sure that our plan is working.
Fred Barstein:
How do you think that helps the plan?
Ana Fejerang:
I definitely think it makes a big difference because we’ve got someone at the very head of the organization who believes in empowering our employees to take their ownership over their own investments. And he himself is very vested and interested in making sure that our employees are maximizing the benefit that’s available to them, and that people are becoming their own ambassadors for their retirement planning.
Fred Barstein:
Does he communicate with the employees as well, or is he just on the committee?
Ana Fejerang:
Well, he definitely communicates with the employees. He’s on the committee. But yeah, he leaves it up to his leadership team to message the importance of this, but he certainly is an advocate of it and promotes it where he can.
Fred Barstein:
And final question, a couple of things you picked up at this program that you may want to do when you get back?
Ana Fejerang:
Yeah, I liked the point that having automatic enrollment is important, but also having the additional feature where we have employees automatically increase their elections annually. I think that that’s very important, and I think that that’s something that I take away from this.
Fred Barstein:
Cool. And would you recommend this program? What’s the value you think for plan sponsors to come to a program?
Ana Fejerang:
Yeah, absolutely, hands down. I don’t think I’ve ever attended a program like this where it’s really relevant to what we’re doing day in and day out as HR professionals, plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and I definitely do recommend it. I think that there was a lot of value here and that there were a lot of subject matter experts, and that makes all the difference when you’re hearing it firsthand from them.
Fred Barstein:
Great. Well, thank you for your time today. And thank you for watching 401kTV. Please stay tuned.
