Recordkeeper change: Reevaluate your pooled employer plan
A recordkeeper change creates an important opportunity to look beyond the transition and reassess your pooled employer plan. Evaluate how your plan measures up across service, fiduciary oversight, participant experience, cost and overall value.
A recordkeeper change creates an important opportunity to look beyond the transition and reassess your pooled employer plan. Evaluate how your plan measures up across service, fiduciary oversight, participant experience, cost and overall value.
Pooled employer plans (PEPs) are becoming an increasingly popular option for plan sponsors seeking a more efficient, collaborative approach to retirement benefits. As a type of 401(k) plan, PEPs allow multiple, unrelated employers to participate in a single pooled plan, designed to streamline governance, reduce administrative burden, and gain access to institutional investment capabilities.
As adoption expands across industries and company sizes, the PEP market continues to demonstrate that this arrangement can help deliver meaningful value to sponsors and participants alike.
For plan sponsors and HR teams participating in a PEP, a recordkeeper transition can bring renewed attention to how their retirement plan operates and the support they receive. This moment can feel disruptive, but it's also a strategic opportunity to step back and ask bigger questions.
As a recordkeeper changes, you should review transition communications, payroll and data processes, participant access, administrative responsibilities and other operational considerations. While these changes may be part of an established transition plan, they also present an opportunity to revisit a broader question: Does your current PEP continue to fit your organization’s needs?
A recordkeeper is an important component of a retirement plan, but it is only one part of the overall arrangement. The pooled plan provider relationship, fiduciary structure, administrative support, participant experience, investment lineup and total cost are also relevant considerations.
Rather than getting caught up in the platform change alone, this transition gives you an opportunity to take a holistic look at your PEP and determine whether your current arrangement remains the right fit.
Key questions to ask during a transition
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Does the service model still work for your organization?
Look beyond the recordkeeping platform itself. Assess what administrative support is available and how responsive your provider is to questions and service needs. How well does the arrangement fit with the capabilities and resources of your internal HR and benefits teams?
Understanding the full service model helps you determine whether the arrangement meets your organization’s expectations.
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Are your PEP's vendor's delivering the right capabilities and value?
The value of your PEP can depend, in part, on the providers that support it and how well their services meet your organization’s needs. Consider where services may overlap, gaps may exist, or alternative providers may offer a better fit.
The goal is to ensure that your PEP’s vendor relationships support your plan objectives and deliver a positive experience for your organization and its employees.
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Is the participant experience strong enough?
The retirement plan experience extends beyond the recordkeeping platform. Access to account information, educational resources, service channels, managed account options, and financial wellness support can all affect how participants engage with their retirement savings.
Assess the experience your employees have today and what you would want from a PEP going forward.
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Does the cost reflect the value provided?
A recordkeeper change may trigger a fee review, but you should look beyond recordkeeping fees alone.
Evaluate the total cost of the PEP alongside the services provided, investment-related expenses where applicable, administrative support and the allocation of responsibilities. A broader assessment can help you understand how the arrangement’s costs relate to its overall offering.
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What will the transition require?
Whether you stay with your current PEP through the recordkeeper change or move to a different arrangement, each path has its own implications: expected transition timeline, contractual requirements, potential costs, data and payroll implications, participant communications and any other operational dependencies.
These details will inform your decision.
A change is not automatically an improvement
It is easy to assume that a new recordkeeper means better service, lower fees, or stronger capabilities. But that is not always the case. In a PEP environment, thoughtful vendor selection across recordkeeping, investments, managed accounts, and financial wellness support is essential, and that responsibility falls on your PEP provider.
As the PEP market matures, you have more options and more reason to compare alternatives carefully. A recordkeeper transition can be an opportunity to reassess whether your PEP provider is still selecting and overseeing vendors in a way that strengthens your plan and supports seamless operations.
Use the transition as a decision point
Consider an alternative approach: Marsh BrightPath PEP and Empower
For employers evaluating their options, Marsh BrightPath PEP offers a different PEP arrangement that combines Marsh’s retirement plan support with Empower as recordkeeper. This partnership provides an opportunity to assess a different provider relationship and service model, not just a different recordkeeper.
When evaluating alternatives, you can compare the overall arrangement across:
- Service model and administrative support
- Fiduciary responsibilities and governance structure
- Participant experience and engagement tools
- Fees and transition requirements
The right choice depends on your organization’s needs and the specific terms and services available through each PEP option. A thorough review doesn’t require a predetermined decision to move, it simply gives you the chance to make an informed choice about which arrangement best supports your organization’s priorities.
Make your next step an informed one
A recordkeeper transition can be an operational event, but it’s also a strategic one. If your PEP is changing, now may be the right time to validate that your PEP delivers the right combination of service, oversight, participant support, and value.
Explore how Marsh BrightPath PEP and Empower could align with your organization’s retirement plan needs.
Defined Contribution Leader, Marsh Investments and Retirement
US DC Mid-Market Solutions Leader, Marsh Investments and Retirement