PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 33

you're in a period of turmoil, you tend to
focus on 'putting out fires,' " says Craig
Rosenthal, a senior vice president at
Fiduciary Benchmarks in Lake Oswego,
Oregon. " And your day-to-day, or even
year-to-year, duties get back-burnered,
because you've got bigger issues. "
But plan fiduciaries' responsibilities
" Everybody
remain, Rosenthal
says.
has bigger problems right now: The
difference is that plan fiduciaries still
have a liability issue if they're not doing
what they're supposed to be doing, " he
says. " There are things that plan fiduciaries
are still supposed to be doing,
such as holding committee meetings
and documenting the decisions made,
monitoring their service providers and
making sure fees are still reasonable. "
In the next spot on the continuum,
Above and Beyond
S
ources say employers also have grown more interested in talking about
workforce issues beyond the retirement plan. Westminster Consulting has
launched a human capital consulting division, so it can work on those
broader issues, through means such as professional coaching. " We're looking
to expand our conversation with employers, so that it's not always about retirement, "
says Sean Patton, of the practice. " Employers are asking, 'Should we revisit
how we can best serve our employees with the benefits package we offer them?
And how efficient is our benefits spend? Could those dollars be better used?' For
us, it's a natural evolution. "
Doshier puts sponsors at businesses
that are doing all right in general but
that have a retirement plan with challenges.
" There is much that advisers
can do for these people, " he says. " You
can ask them, how long has it been
since they shopped their plan to recordkeepers?
How long has it been since
they looked at their investment menu and default investment?
And talking about what I call 'legs and regs'-legislative
and regulatory developments affecting plans-works
well with this group. "
Further along the continuum, Doshier sees employers
Thanks to its acquisition by strategic advisory firm OneDigital in February, as part
of the larger Resources Investment Advisors LLC deal, Teros Advisors now has
broader resources, letting it aid with more varied workforce issues. According to
the firm's Nate White, the acquisition was well-timed, because employers need
different kinds of support now. " In the past, the support we offered was in areas
such as committee meetings, managing investments and consulting on optimizing
plan design. We're still doing those things, but the needs now have shifted
substantially for employers, " he says. " We've had many more discussions about
HR consulting-things outside of the retirement space. " For example, some
organizations laid off a significant part of their HR staff recently and need to
figure out how to still get their work done efficiently. -JW
In mid-March, [Americans] all realized we were in trouble. "
With employees on edge about their finances, Rosenthal
with a healthy business and healthy plan that are focused
on getting their employees safely back to work and helping
them where possible to deal with this challenging time. " For
employers like that, financial wellness has exploded as an
area of interest, " he says.
Doshier describes the final group of employers-those
whose business, retirement plan and workforce strategy are
stable-as starting to think about how to take their plan
" to the next level. These sponsors want to know, 'What is
the future plan design that will be a difference-maker?' I
think the big one now is thinking holistically about retirement-income
options. The SECURE [Setting Every Community
Up for Retirement Enhancement] Act took a big swing
at trying to make plan sponsors more comfortable with
in-plan retirement-income options. We're at a point where
the things that have stopped plan sponsors in the past are
at least being re-evaluated. "
Overall, sources point to a couple of areas as being
especially important to employers now. After seeing their
employees' financial stress jump in the past few months,
more employers feel motivated to build up their financial
wellness program. " Their employees have been traumatized,
fearing for their jobs or worrying about the future of their
company, " Rosenthal says. " This crisis came out of nowhere:
thinks many skeptical employers may change their mind
about offering a financial wellness program. " In the past,
there have been some concerns from employers that didn't
want to be 'parental' with their employees, " he says. " If
we've learned anything from the past several months, it's
that maybe it's time to be more parental with employees. "
Kane also foresees more employers opting to offer an
emergency savings program for employees. " Employers
are wondering, 'Is there a vehicle we could use to help out
our employees, so that people are not so reliant on 401(k)
loans-so their 401(k) account doesn't become a checkbook?' "
he says.
This summer, Alliant Retirement Consulting started
doing monthly webinars for sponsor clients and prospects. A
June session that focused on crisis leadership got especially
good feedback. It featured a co-author of the book " Extreme
Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win. " Says
Pottichen, " Sponsors said it was something different, and
helpful. It's a topic that is aligned with what they're doing
now, but different than [content] they get hit with often. "
Alliant organized the session with the goal of offering
employers useful tips to help navigate this difficult period.
" We want to succeed, and we want our clients to succeed, "
Pottichen says. " The leadership of a company will determine
whether it is successful or not during this time. And if we can
be helpful to them in this area, hopefully they'll think of us
when they need help with their retirement plan. " -Judy Ward
planadviser.com July-August 2020 | 33
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