Five Ideas to Get your Committee Organized for the Year Ahead

Plan sponsors and program directors sit on the front lines — overseeing billions of dollars in retirement assets and making crucial decisions on behalf of their participants.

Retirement program oversight is complex work and committee decisions have meaningful impact on the retirement outcomes of the covered workforce. Every year presents new opportunities and challenges, and 2022 is primed to be another important year. 

The list of retirement oversight and investment trends gaining an increasing level of attention this year is extensive. The following five ideas are designed to help boards and committees prepare for the year ahead and effectively navigate the growing list of retirement themes poised for real traction.

Let’s dive in: 

1. Create a list. Committees who take the opportunity to identify the issues and themes most relevant for their plan will be in a position to use time wisely and execute well.  Doing the work at outset of the year will manage the way time will be deployed, avoid surprises, and create an agreed upon action plan for committees to execute against and measure progress.
   

2. Categorize by theme. Once you have a comprehensive list, you will be in a position to overlay the list with level of interest and suitability for your plan’s unique needs. Suggested categories follow: 1. Education only, 2. Research for consideration, 3. Implementation, 4. Not applicable. This approach to categorizing ideas will serve as a meaningfully guide for agenda planning and managing expectations internally with committees and stakeholders, as well as externally with your providers. Most of all, it will help prioritize your valuable time.
   

3. Assess your expertise.  Relative to the agenda you establish, take an opportunity to assess what your committee can handle and identify areas where help is needed. Specifically, consider the committee’s capacity and skill-set (i.e., competing priorities, process of how decisions have been made historically, areas of expertise, efficacy of the work completed to date, etc.) and plan accordingly. Get comfortable with sub-committees that can break off into smaller teams to explore, research, and bring back findings to the larger group in order to use time wisely and shorten time lines. 

4. Recruit help.  Inevitably, there will be identified gaps of knowledge and areas that your committee needs subject matter expertise and help.  Ask your consultant and/or other trusted provider partners such as asset managers, recordkeepers, etc. to prepare insights based on your list of priorities for the year. Delegate to others the areas that your committee will need help and invite them to join meetings.

5. Execute and measure. Once you have set-up this work, be accountable to the action plan and prepare agendas well in advance. Work to stay on track so that you can achieve your objectives, but be open to revisit and reassess as circumstances evolve. Don’t forget to measure and celebrate your success so you are motivated to prepare for the next year and evolve your process based on learnings from what worked and what did not.

What will you talk about? Here’s a list for 2022 to get you started:

1. Examine key components of the QDIA:

   • Managed Accounts versus Target Date Solutions

   • Glide path suitability

   • Implementation strategies – active, passive, blend, dynamic, etc.

2. Explore expansion of retirement services and solutions:

   • Retirement Income

   • Financial wellness

   • Emergency savings

   • Student debt provisions

   • Financial Planning

3. Study the impact of changing market and economic conditions on investments:

   • Higher inflation

   • Expected low return environment

   • Interest rate changes

4. Investigate the suitability of expanding trends:

   • Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) offerings

   • Delegated, outsourcing, OCIO services

   • PEPs

Over the last couple of decades in my work with committees, I’ve observed that those who take the opportunity to prepare for the year ahead are well positioned to execute effectively. A few minutes of quiet thinking on your own or creative engagement with your team could make all the difference.

Much success to you! / Lorie

Lorie L. Latham, CFA is based in North Carolina. She is enjoying a multi-decade career delivering defined contribution, retirement, and investment strategy expertise. She recently left full-time corporate life for her next adventures. Lorie is passionate about having a positive impact on better retirement outcomes and serving as a strategic resource to individuals overseeing retirement plans. You can contact her directly at lorie@llathamconsulting.com. You can also connect with Lorie on LinkedIn.

This piece was featured in the February 24, 2022, edition of Retirement Security Matters. For more fresh thinking on retirement savings innovation, check out the newsletter here.