If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that we’ve touched on which benefits videos to start with to get the most interest and involvement from your viewers. Will it be your Consumer Directed Health Plan or your 401(k)? You will also have learned what to include in an Open Enrollment video, which is a powerful place to start engaging employees.

Once you’ve decided on which topic to cover, here’s a plan for pulling together everything you COULD talk about and, from that, how to work out what to actually include in your video and what to provide through supporting documents.

1. Start with plan docs – Pull together and review all of your plan documents. View them through your employees’ eyes and be an advocate for their experience.
2. Decide on scope – Do you want a teaser to get employees interested, a full support solution that replaces your benefits guide or something in-between? Your choice will affect the watchability and usefulness of your video.
3. Beginnings and endings are critical – You have 30 seconds to buy attention span. Be creative. Wrap up with next steps.
4. Keep it Simple – Speak in plain English, as you would if you were having coffee with a good friend.
5. Find your voice – Are you corporate, anti-corporate or somewhere in-between? Make sure your video reflects your organization’s unique culture and voice.
6. Look and Feel – Consider incorporating these five elements:

• “Talking head” introduction – from a key executive is great for Open Enrollment or New Hire Training videos
• Company images – good for branding but be careful using faces as those employees may eventually leave
• Stock photography – select a powerful image to reinforce a key message
• Text – again, used sparingly, it can reinforce your key messages effectively
• Tables/charts/graphs – with video, you can walk your viewers through difficult concepts using tables, charts, graphs and other illustrations

Want more detail? Click here to watch the video course.

Want more advice like this? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Employees seek retirement advice from their employers

A majority of people have agreed they would like more guidance from their employer about how to achieve retirement goals according to the 11^th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey.

Perhaps not surprisingly, employees with a higher overall education level are more likely to be financially well in retirement. Only 63% of employees with only a high school diploma participated in a retirement plan, as opposed to 84% of those with a college degree.

But all education levels showed a desire for direction from their employers.

More than half of all surveyed, agreed that they would like more information and advice from their employer about how to reach retirement goals. In fact, employees surveyed indicated that “educational materials that are easier to understand” is the second biggest motivator in getting an employee to learn more about saving and investing for retirement (behind tax breaks/incentives).

Investing in better retirement education for employees is a cost-effective way to motivate employees to save for their retirement and ensure their financial wellness.

40-52% of workers are delaying their retirement.

70 is the “new 65,” according to Sun Life Financial. Their Unretirement Index, along with Towers Watson’s 2010 Global Workforce Study, show that 40-52% of Americans will delay their retirement due to ill financial health.

Towers Watson found 68% of those workers will continue working in order to keep their health care coverage, while 61% cited their lacking 401(k) plans as the reason for staying. Sun Life found that only 25% are “very confident” they will be able to cover medical expenses in retirement.

Americans are also changing their current lifestyles to meet their financial needs and cope with financial fears by reducing spending and debt, and increasing saving and investing. About 18% are even putting off routine medical procedures to save money.

When 401(k) plans were first rolled out in 1981, the income tax rates and bracket structure were very different than today.    The top federal tax rate was nearly 70% and there were 15 different income tax brackets separated by just a few thousand dollars of income (See Tax History).  Given those conditions 401(k) contributions presented a great opportunity to both avoid high current rates and reduce W-2 income in the contribution year just enough to move into a lower bracket.  So it seemed like a double win, lower taxes in the contribution year and in the future, when the Plan was accessed during retirement.

Since 1981 the sustained effects of “Reaganomics” led to a steady decline of both tax rates (highest federal bracket from 70% to 35%) and the number of brackets (from 15 to 6). During this period, with few exceptions, the US economy experienced robust economic growth.  401(k) Plans got even better as a result. To attract and retain employees, employers with healthy bottom lines began to offer generous matching incentives linked to 401(k) participation.

But the length and depth of the current recession is now changing the outlook for today’s 401(k) savers in two significant ways. First and most importantly, the government funded stimulus packages and propensity to grow overall government spending must be paid for at some point. This future “balance due” can only offset by higher taxes or a devaluing of the dollar (inflation).  The second effect of the current recession is that many companies have cut back or eliminated matching 401(k) contributions.

So the question for the employee now becomes, “if I no longer receive any company matching, and I may have to pay higher taxes on withdrawals in the future, is the 401(k) still the right way to save?”

Enter sound savings principles and the Roth 401(k) to the rescue.  Match or no match, automation and consistency are two key factors in any saving’s strategy.  401(k) plans are still great because the money is automatically deducted from every paycheck before it can get spent.  The recently introduced Roth 401(k) addresses the more daunting issue of higher taxes in the future by allowing after tax contributions now and tax free retirement withdrawals in retirement.

So rather focusing on the now suspect virtues of tax deferral, maybe it’s time to pitch the 401(k) as primarily a great way to save, period.  Wise portfolio allocations and a balanced approach between the Traditional 401(k) and the Roth 401(k) will address the constant winds of change that remain outside of the investor’s control.