Retirement Insights
Hand Off Pension Plan Administration to a Top Expert
August 28, 2024
Organizations that have a hands-on approach to pension plan administration may actually have their hands full. Every pension plan is unique, and the complexity can lead to costly administrative mistakes by internal staff.
Today, pension plans require actuarial, administrative and compliance expertise. These are not typically the skill sets and experience of internal staff members for most organizations – and these kinds of highly-qualified employees aren’t easy to find. In addition, regulatory changes, economic shifts and changing business dynamics complicate efforts to remain compliant.
Outsourcing your pension administration offers confidence in knowing your participants are fully supported, and your plan is administered accurately, efficiently and cost-effectively.
Relieve Administrative Burden Through Outsourcing
No matter the plan’s size, maintaining an in-house pension administration platform is often a costly option for carrying out a variety of duties, including:
- Providing accurate and timely benefit calculations
- Efficiently delivering benefit election kits
- Properly managing participant and beneficiary data
- Promptly and accurately processing and fulfilling benefit elections
- Prudently and proactively providing direction to trustees
- Attentively managing cases
- Quickly and knowledgably responding to participant/beneficiary inquiries via phone and email
These are day-to-day responsibilities, and they may compete for the attention of internal resources who are focused on other business issues. A lack of focus on plan administration may result in errors – and those errors can have consequences to your organization, including fiduciary liability and fines from the Department of Labor (DOL), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Employers can find a cost-effective solution to plan administration challenges through a partner whose expertise extends to offering professional pension outsourcing services. USI Consulting Group’s (USICG) pension administration solutions include a dedicated team of experienced professionals and leading-edge technology to outsource administration and support your employees:
USICG utilizes proprietary technology through customized systems designed to handle unique retirement plan provisions and plan sponsor requirements. Complex plans with unique administration requirements are a specialty of USICG retirement plan consultants and we’ll work with you to customize a service model that best fits your organization’s needs.
Leading-Edge Technology and Support
USICG’S Web-Based Administration Tool
USICG offers fully outsourced administration services through
a web-based administration tool. It provides employers with the tools and support they need to more efficiently and cost-effectively manage their plans and respond to their pension plan participants’ needs.
As opposed to a software solution, this approach allows organizations to enjoy best of breed technology without the burden of hardware or software requirements or IT support (only internet access is needed). Pension plan sponsors enjoy the primary benefits of outsourcing at a fraction of the cost.
Human Touch: Live Participant Call Center
Your pension plan participants can talk to someone by calling our call center. Trained representatives are available from 8:00am to 8:00pm (ET) Monday through Friday to answer questions or initiate requests.
Case Study: Administration hand-off pays off
Transitioning pension plan administration to USICG proved to be advantageous for a food manufacturing company in the Northeast U.S. The organization had two pension plans (one for union employees and another that was frozen). The administrative duties of the plans were overwhelming to the Human Resources (HR) staff and the client hired USICG to administer their plans. The USICG Benefits Service Center provided knowledgeable guidance to participants in completing paperwork and processing their payments.
Contracting pension administration duties with USICG saved the company over $26K of HR time annually performing plan calculations and administering the plan. In addition, the hand off to USICG significantly improved the accuracy of the calculations and overall participant satisfaction.1
USICG is a top 10 provider of defined benefit plan administration and outsourcing.2 While other consulting firms are scaling back pension consulting services, USICG is expanding pension plan services to continue to provide innovative solutions for your organization today and well into the future.
How USI Consulting Group Can Help
USICG delivers the following day-to-day relief through its pension administration services:
- Frees up the human resources staff for strategic tasks in the organization
- Reduces internal costs to administer the pension plan
- Enhances overall customer service to pension plan participants
- Increases participant appreciation of the plan benefits
- Ensures accuracy and consistency of data and communications
- Ensures DOL, IRS, PBGC and all other compliance requirements are met
To learn more about how our pension plan administration services, experienced team, leading-edge technology and service models enable employers to choose the best value solution and support their employees, contact your local USICG representative, visit our Contact Us page or reach out to us directly at information@usicg.com.
1 Actual results will vary and are dependent upon various factors including, but not limited to: number of participants, total plan asset value, management fees, administrative costs and services provided.
2 USI Consulting Group has been recognized as one of the 10 largest defined benefit administration service providers in PLANSPONSOR’s 2024 Defined Benefit Administration Survey, as measured by both participants and numbers of plans fully outsourced.
This information is provided solely for educational purposes and is not to be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. Prior to acting on this information, we recommend that you seek independent advice specific to your situation from a qualified investment/legal/tax professional.
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