Understanding and Enhancing the Workforce Impact of Retirement Plans

January 2025

Authors

Richard A. Guzzo Co-President, Workforce Sciences Institute
Haig R. Nalbantian Co-president, Workforce Sciences Institute

This report provides a framework for assessing how retirement plans best meet an organization’s mission and objectives. The framework presents 10 key considerations that are framed as questions answerable uniquely in context of each organization’s strategy and circumstances, which include how changes in broader economic and workforce factors can influence the effectiveness of plan designs. The framework also is very data-driven, containing metrics and measures of workforce dynamics that inform a current state assessment and project the future. Quantitative indicators of such things as an employer’s relative emphasis on building versus buying the talent it needs, the uptake of employers’ investments in developing employee capabilities, and how talent “flows” in the organization complement but substantially extend analyses typically used to evaluate retirement plans. A key organizing concept of the framework’s questions and metrics is the “internal labor market” (ILM) dynamics unique to each employer and how retirement practices influence those dynamics.

The framework is action oriented. It enables companies to prioritize what changes are needed and where, such as for what critical employee segments or organizational units. Several examples and in-depth case studies illustrate successful applications of the framework and actions that can be taken from it. They also show the risks of failing to anticipate the likely workforce impact of changes in retirement strategies and plan designs and of plan changes that might be needed.

Materials

Understanding and Enhancing the Workforce Impact of Retirement Plans

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the members of the SOA Research Institute’s Project Oversight Group whose generous contributions to the advancement of this report are greatly appreciated:

Chris Bone, FSA, MAAA, EA
Stephen Camilli, FSA
Doug Chandler, FSA, FCIA
Greg Hawes, FSA, CERA, FCIA, MAAA, FCA, EA
Anna Rappaport, FSA, MAAA
David Rosenblum, FSA, FCA, EA

And from the SOA Research Institute:
Steve Siegel, Sr. Practice Research Actuary, ASA, MAAA

We also thank Grace Boudjalis of Wayne State University for her good work in capturing relevant research literature and Barbara Butrica, a retirement researcher at The Urban Institute, who was most helpful to getting the work off on the right foot.

Also thank you to Barbara Scott of the Society of Actuaries Research Institute for her excellent support throughout the project.

Questions or Comments?

If you have comments or questions, please send an email to research@soa.org