Getting schooled: Creating a formalized Education Policy Statement

Employers today are constantly challenged to not only attract and retain valued employees, but also to reduce their financial stress, all while increasing productivity.  

Many plan sponsors understand that participants are increasingly looking to them to provide the knowledge, tools, and services they need to meet their retirement planning challenges. Most large defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors are working to address this with a focus on helping participants:

• Save early, often, and enough for retirement
• Select (or default to) appropriate investment options
• Better understand the intersection of retirement and health care
• Learn how to create a retirement income plan that can last 20 or more years

Today, robust, tailored educational programs must focus on both accumulation (saving) and decumulation (income) topics, take into consideration shifts in demographics and the changing concept of “retirement,” and use language and delivery methods that appeal directly to various generations in various formats. An Education Policy Statement (EPS) can help plan sponsors create — and follow — an education strategy and plan that incorporates this complex, new reality.

The EPS not only clarifies and documents a plan sponsor’s commitment to effective employee education, but provides a detailed execution roadmap. In this article, we detail the six sections of an EPS:

• Purpose
• Plan goals
• Education goals
• Who does what
• How success will be measured
• How it will all get done

Learn more about the ways an EPS can help plan sponsors create a robust, thoughtful education plan.