NASHVILLE—How can employers attract, retain, and “gracefully exit” employees? EBRI head Harry Conaway, Fidelity Vice President Jeanne Thompson, and American Retirement Association Communications chief Nevin Adams weighed in at the NAPA 401(k) Summit.

Here is where employers are in 2016--Harry Conaway started it off by “setting the table”:

• Boomers are aging and beginning to retire, though not as fast as some employers might want.

• Millennials are now the largest workforce.

• Salaries are flat.

• The Great Recession and other challenges are background items.

• There’s a move to more contractors and gig workers.

• There’s a shift from DB to DC plans.

• Workers are facing new work issues such as financial stress, higher credit card debt, higher student loan debt, and are suffering, coincidentally (or not so coincidentally), from a lack of sleep as well.

To help employers, new products and services are created weekly. And as many pitches for these new products. It almost requires a Consumer Reports of benefits solutions to sort through all of them. EBRI trustees did briefly wonder if they should do this, Conaway said. “They didn’t do it, but it’s an opportunity.”