While plan providers tell 401(k) plan sponsors such as yourselves that you need to focus on fee and fiduciary issues, you should never lose sight of the fact that a 401(k) plan is an employee benefit.
Just like health insurance, gym reimbursement, and free coffee, a 401(k) plan is an important employee benefit that can be used to retain and recruit employees. That’s why it’s important that you have one and maintain it so that it runs optimally for the benefit of plan participants.
Why is it important not to forget that a 401(k) plan can be a big thing? By a four-to-one margin (80 percent to 20 percent), workers would choose a job with benefits over an identical job that offered 30% more salary with no benefits, according to the American Institute of CPAs, which released the results of its 2018 Employee Benefit Report. That’s why.
