SMBs want to help employees with financial wellness, retirement--but can they?

Many small to midsized businesses have struggled during the pandemic. As the economy opens up and more businesses try to get back to pre-pandemic operations, recruiting new talent will become important. But if an SMB is already struggling, how can they compete with the bigger companies? Employee benefits offerings are one way. And one of the hottest, after health insurance and retirement plans, is financial wellness.

To get a better picture of financial wellness in the SMB space, we turned to Kristen Carlisle, General Manager of Betterment for Business.

BenefitsPRO: Has or will COVID change the SMB landscape for retirement plans/benefits?  Kristen Carlisle: Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen perhaps more SMBs than ever before express interest in offering a 401(k), which is incredibly encouraging. Our customer growth over the past year has been reflective of that trend.

SMBs understand that many people are facing new financial challenges and really want to support the wellbeing of their employees, so even though these businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic, they’re continuing to invest in retirement plans and the financial futures of their employees.

What about regulation, retirement plans and SMBs? There has been a regulatory push over the past few years to make retirement planning more affordable and accessible for small businesses, such as the 2019 SECURE Act.

It’s clear that players across the industry are starting to take note of the fact that offering a 401(k) can sometimes be complex and challenging for SMBs to undertake, and people are looking for ways to remove those roadblocks.

As more and more states create state-sponsored retirement plans for employees of small businesses, will this affect the company’s actions in the market? We’re excited to see more and more states beginning to prioritize the retirement security of local small businesses. Greater access to retirement plans is a positive thing across the board. The more we can continue to educate small and mid-sized companies and lower the barrier for them to take part in this crucial benefit, the better outcome for the American population.

What about the SMB space is attractive for providers? Despite employing nearly half of the US workforce, SMBs have long been shut out of the retirement planning landscape. The presumed cost and effort associated with providing a 401(k) is often a deterrent to those considering offering one.

We want to help businesses with even as few as two employees understand that offering a 401(k) doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. Employees at small businesses and startups deserve the same caliber benefits packages and retirement plans as those at larger companies.

Is technology part of the SMB space? What trends do you see in technology in the workplace retirement space? There’s a continued focus on the ease of administration with payroll automation, compliance testing automation and support for the employers. Additionally, a lot of attention is being paid to how to best prepare employees so that they don’t need to dip into their retirement savings when unforeseen circumstances arise.

As a result, many recordkeepers are thinking about how to offer technology that gives employees a bigger financial view beyond their 401(k). We have long taken the stance that people need a full picture of their finances to better plan for today, tomorrow and their future.

Partnerships seem to be popping up all over the place. What attracted Betterment to Zenefits?

We were attracted to Zenefits because they share our firm conviction in supporting the financial wellness of workers at small and midsize businesses. We love working with great payroll companies — combining our platforms makes it even easier to offer a high-quality benefits experience to SMBs and support the financial wellbeing of more workers.