Fall Benefits Season: Making Retirement Readiness Part of Open Enrollment

Open enrollment often focuses on health insurance, premiums, and benefit elections. For plan sponsors, it also offers a natural opportunity to encourage employees to revisit their retirement plan and better understand the features and resources available to them.

Why Include Retirement in Open Enrollment Communications?

Rather than launching a comprehensive education initiative, plan sponsors can use open enrollment to help reinforce a few key retirement plan concepts.

Employees may benefit from reviewing their contribution rate, confirming beneficiary designations, revisiting investment elections, and learning about available plan resources. Open enrollment can also be a good time to explain Roth contribution options and remind employees about the employer match, if your plan offers one.

Use the Season to Explain Plan Changes

Employees may struggle to understand retirement plan updates and regulatory changes when sponsors share them without context. Open enrollment provides a familiar setting for introducing new information in a timely and approachable way.

One example is the SECURE 2.0 Roth catch-up contribution requirement. Beginning in 2026, certain participants aged 50 and older whose prior-year FICA wages from the plan sponsor meet the applicable high-wage threshold must generally make any 401(k) catch-up contributions on a Roth basis. For 2026, that threshold is $150,000 in 2025 FICA wages. Plan sponsors should coordinate participant communications with their recordkeeper, third-party administrator (TPA), payroll provider, and other appropriate professionals.

Even employees who aren’t affected by this provision may benefit from a simple explanation of how Roth and pretax contributions differ. Communications should focus on education and explain available plan features without recommending a specific course of action.

Five Ways to Re-Engage Employees This Fall

Retirement plan engagement does not require lengthy communications. A few focused reminders can help encourage employees to review their benefits and take action.

1. Include retirement plan information in open enrollment communications and provide direct links to plan resources.
2. Keep messages simple by focusing on a single topic, such as contribution rates, beneficiary designations, or Roth contribution options.
3. Make educational resources easy to access through webinars, office hours, or recordkeeper tools.
4. Use life events such as raises, promotions, marriage, or the birth of a child as reminders to revisit retirement elections.
5. Send a brief year-end reminder encouraging employees to review their savings rate, catch-up contribution eligibility, and beneficiary information.

A Simple Fall Action Plan

Before open enrollment begins, identify any plan features or regulatory updates that apply to your workforce. Coordinate messaging with your benefits team, recordkeeper, TPA, payroll provider, and retirement plan advisor. Focus communications on two or three key employee actions, and follow up with a year-end reminder.

The Bottom Line

Plan sponsors can use open enrollment to help bring retirement readiness into focus. Incorporating retirement education into existing benefits communications can help employees better understand available plan features and prepare for the year ahead.

This is intended for informational purposes only. You should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this document serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Savant. Please consult your investment professional regarding your unique situation.

Patricia L. Hutchinson Director of Retirement Plan Services AIF®, MBA

Patty began working in the financial services industry in 2006. She earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Northern State University and an MBA from Colorado Technical University.