The deadline to comply with the DOL's 404(a)(5) regulation to disclose all fees associated with 401(k) plans is quickly approaching. Since the legislation was proposed, communication around companies' 401(k) plans and retirement in general have been top of mind for HR professionals.

Many realized the new disclosures could cause employees to become dissatisfied with their retirement plan and benefits and scrambled to develop communications that mitigated the situation as best as possible in a short period of time. I wrote about best practices for doing this in my last blog.

What's more important however, is that when it comes to how employers communicate changes concerning employee benefits, a single, one-time and generic event to inform employees about it may be enough to mitigate it temporarily, but it's not enough to achieve the most important goal of the plan: helping employees achieve retirement readiness.