An increasing amount of people are beginning to realize that they are responsible for their own financial future. Many are looking to their employer for guidance and the right tools. Are you fulfilling this need?

When employers create an environment which promotes retirementreadiness, they can reduce the costs associated with an aging employee population and deliver a positive message to employees about planning for retirement.  While the responsibility to prepare for retirement will still largely rest with employees, employers now have a way to more accurately guide and prepare their employees to enter retirement at or near their normal retirement age.To develop a “retirement ready” workforce, employers should focus on the following steps:

1. Conduct a Company Retirement Readiness Assessment
When you have an understanding of how different segments of your population are utilizing (or not utilizing) your retirement plan and what their projected outcomes are, it is easier to strategically develop a plan to help improve the retirement readiness of your workforce.

2. Evaluate Plan Design
There are several opportunities within your plan design to help start and keep your employees on the right track towards retirement.  The key is understanding your workforce and then making decisions which support both employee retirement readiness and your corporate goals.

3. Develop Targeted Employee Communication Focused on Changing Behaviors
Employees want to be guided.  Their retirement readiness can be greatly improved when you communicate in a way they can understand and relate to which will allow them to easily and painlessly arrive at the right decisions.

Your employees look to you for guidance in many areas, including financial readiness for retirement. With the proper advice your company retirement plan can become a true employee benefit.

Please comment or call to discuss how this can affect the productivity of your company.