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It’s the time of the season—for choosing benefits options.
Yes, friends, benefits season is right around the corner again, so while your clients review their benefits offerings and their employees ponder investment opportunities and contribution amounts, it is also a great time for you to re-evaluate your benefit plans and retirement plan administration.
To do that, you might consider jumping into the pool.
There’s a reason why 1.2 million people participated in Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) with nearly $12 billion in assets as of 2023, the most recent data available from the U.S. Labor Department.
A PEP is a great way for you to be able to offer your small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients retirement benefit options with reduced fiduciary risk and less in-house administration.
What Is a PEP?
A PEP is no different than a traditional retirement plan, such as a defined contribution plan—often a 401(k). Since businesses are essentially “swimming together” in the same pool, they are collectively able to create a wake that allows them to offer these types of retirement benefits to their employees as much larger organizations do. Otherwise, these benefits would likely be cost-prohibitive for smaller companies to be able to introduce to their employees.
Not being able to provide retirement benefits is a huge challenge for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) hoping to compete for talent and to retain the people they already have.
Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs), Administrative Services Organizations (ASOs) and other HR outsourcers (HROs) know this all too well as they have traditionally pooled retirement benefits to help them compete for talent with much bigger organizations that have much deeper pockets.
To help HROs along that journey, we created PrismHR Retirement Services.
Download our PrismHR Retirement Services white paper.
The Retirement Situation
With employees looking for new jobs at higher rates than we’ve seen in over a decade, keeping workers is a huge priority for SMBs.
So it’s not surprising that retirement benefits are an important part of enticing candidates to come and employees to stay with a business.
After all, retirement is a huge challenge for many workers today, and that doesn’t even take into consideration inflation. Energy prices alone jumped nearly 15% year over year, according to the July 2026 Consumer Price Index report.
Employees wanting to retire early might want to think again. Retiring at age 60 requires a nest egg of about $1.3 million to live “comfortably,” according to Investopedia vs. $898,000 for those thinking about retirement at age 65. The problem: the average American faces a $109,000 retirement shortfall at age 65. The retirement challenge is exacerbated even more in states where the cost of living is highest, such as California, Massachusetts and Alaska. Retirees are likely to outlive their savings in those locales.
According to a 2025 Gallup survey of 10,000 U.S. employees, the second biggest factor in why employees choose a new job is “pay or benefits,” which was above “stability and job security” but only behind “work-life balance and personal well-being.”
Retirement has been a constant struggle for employees for generations.
As one publication wrote, “Then there were some who frankly refused to be concerned about retirement planning. The anxiety worrying about retirement creates is too much of a problem for them to bear.”
Did we mention that article from the Toledo (Ohio) Union Journal was from 1958? Yes, retirement was challenging then, and yes it’s challenging now, too—without the proper solutions in place to help.
According to a recent Thrivent survey, almost half of nonretired Americans (47%) believe they won’t ever be able to fully retire as rising costs, economic uncertainty and other factors have changed their perspective about what the future might hold.
In the Thrivent report, Jason Rogoff, a financial adviser, explained: “The future has always brought uncertainty, but many Americans today are navigating a wider range of questions about work, the economy and retirement than they did just a few years ago.”
While the days of gold watches, pensions and full retirement by age 65 might seem anachronistic in today’s workplace, that doesn’t mean employers, including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) don’t want to help. Especially when most employees (91%) say they would consider a new job if their current employer doesn’t provide the proper financial benefits to help them meet their goals, according to Morgan Stanley research. Additionally, 51% of employees and 59% of HR executives believe retirement benefits are a key factor in talent attraction and retention.
For decades, retirement benefits have been viewed as a cornerstone of financial security. Yet millions of employees today face a very different retirement landscape. Traditional pension plans have steadily declined, life expectancy has increased, and responsibility for retirement savings has largely shifted from employers to employees.
The conversation around retirement benefits is often framed around regulations and plan administration. But the broader impact reaches much further.
When employees have access to workplace retirement savings opportunities, they gain a clearer path toward long-term financial security. Employers can strengthen their value proposition in the job market, and HR service providers can help clients deliver more competitive benefits. All this while policymakers continue to encourage adoption through incentives designed to expand retirement plan access across the workforce.
In other words, employee retirement benefits sit at the intersection of financial well-being, business growth and workforce competitiveness.
Organizations that proactively address retirement access today may be better positioned to meet employee expectations tomorrow.
A Quick Peek at Retirement Complexities
State and federal regulations continue to change, so keeping up with retirement benefit regulations is imperative.
Not meeting state retirement mandates is not an option for employers. For example, under Illinois Secure Choice, employers operating for at least a couple of years with at least five employees must offer a qualified retirement plan or face fines of $250 per employee the first year and $500 per employee in the second year.
Similarly, under OregonSaves, every business with at least one employee must either sponsor a qualified retirement plan, auto-enroll employees in the OregonSaves plan or get an exemption.
Several more jurisdictions, including California and New York, have similar mandates, with their own unique penalty structures, employer size obligations and other rules.
On the horizon for 2027, the SECURE 2.0 Saver’s Match replaces the Saver’s Credit. Aimed at low and moderate earners, it converts a nonrefundable tax credit into an actual deposit: up to 50% of the first $2,000 contributed ($1,000 maximum), paid by the federal government into the saver’s retirement account.
How PrismHR Retirement Services Helps HROs and Their Clients
PrismHR Retirement Services was designed to add value without adding complexity.
They are flexible, fully integrated 401(k) solutions designed specifically with HROs and their clients in mind.
These solutions are easy to manage and built to help you compete with national providers. You can even maintain your own Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) or enhance or replace a Third-Party Administrator (TPA) if you prefer.
What PrismHR Retirement Services is designed to do is give you more options to better serve your clients without hassle through:
- Customized Plan Design
- White-Glove Employee Education Programs
- Reduced Administrative and Fiduciary Burden
More to Learn
Ready to learn more about PrismHR Retirement Benefits and how Pooled Employer Plans are helping expand retirement access and how HR service providers can play a strategic role in that transformation?
Download the white paper: The Key to Unlocking Robust Retirement Benefits Is in the Pool and explore the trends, opportunities and best practices shaping the future of retirement benefits.
After all, ’tis the season to start thinking about benefits.
