Plan sponsors need to take a fresh, holistic look at strengthening the strategic value of their retirement offerings, including improving financial resilience for those employees who are struggling in the current climate, experts said in a recent webcast from WTW.

The webcast, which featured WTW experts, examined the company's outlook for defined benefit plans and the effect of universal cost pressures on employee well-being and retirement plan management. Speakers in the webcast tackled a variety of critical questions related to retirement planning today, including – as Alexa Nerdrum, managing director, benefits, advisory and compliance at WTW North America, summarized it – "How can we address affordability through plan design, while still balancing the legacy costs that some of us on this call are still dealing with? Or how do we ensure that our benefit offerings are meeting people where they are? How do we ensure we have the right information to support our need to focus on outcomes? And then lastly, how do we ensure optimal alignment with our total rewards offering?"

Beth Ashmore, managing director of North American retirement at WTW, noted that the interest rate environment has been volatile in recent months, leading to a roller coaster ride of financial conditions. She said it is important to recognize that a much improved inflation climate doesn't mean that issues related to costs don't remain, she said.