Offering a 401k plan is a key part of a great benefits offering and will make you more competitive to prospective candidates. Equally important is communicating employee options throughout the year while taking the appropriate steps to maintain a healthy and compliant 401k plan. Consider these tips to manage your 401k plan effectively:

Communicate the max 401k contribution limits to employees

401k contribution limits did not change in 2021, but it’s still a good idea to communicate limits to employees and provide resources to help them model their contributions and select 401k plan investment options. You can provide helpful 401k information to employees through the company intranet and in your 2021 open enrollment materials.

Educate employees about the 401k plan throughout the year

Year-end isn’t the only time to communicate with employees about making a 401k contribution and the applicable limits. As employees experience changes in their earnings and living expenses throughout the year, they may want to contribute to the 401k for the first time or adjust their elections mid-year. To keep employees informed and make it easier for them to enroll in your 401k plan at any time, take the following actions:

  • Offer financial education sessions
  • Provide flyers, brochures, and investment illustrations to help employees understand how the 401k plan works, review new contribution limits, and know where to get access to plan balances and instructions for rollovers and loans
  • Consider automatic enrollment for new hires

Manage your 401k plan efficiently

Managing your 401k plan is a complex undertaking, especially when considering all the changes in individual and company contributions each pay period. At any time throughout the year, incoming employees are establishing new accounts while other employees are repaying 401k loans or taking account distributions. In addition, you also need to keep the 401k plan in regulatory compliance and ensure employees do not exceed contribution limits.

Keeping track of the activity in your 401k plan requires a solution that pulls together all the relevant plan data so that you can track plan compliance and plan in-flows and out-flows.  EverythingBenefits financial connectivity solution does just that, and provides you with tools and carrier integrations, such as:

  • Uni- and bi-directional data flows to retirement plan vendors and providers
  • Automated reports to show plan activity for every pay period
  • Integration with a range of HRMS and third-party administrator platforms
  • Correspondence and reminders to help you reduce risk, avoid regulatory fines, and keep your 401k plan in good regulatory standing

With Financial Connectivity, you’ll be on your way to better compliance and a more efficient way of managing your 401k plan. Take these steps to keep employees informed about their options while seamlessly delivering retirement plan data to your HR and benefits administration staff.

Content provided to you by our partner, EverythingBenefits, a leading provider of next-generation, end-to-end benefit technology solutions and services that help businesses of all sizes and their employees experience benefits in more meaningful ways.