Spring is right around the corner, and I’m not about to ask you to clear out closets or face whatever has collected behind your fridge, but I do urge you to consider spring cleaning for your retirement plan.    

It’s all too easy to let another year slip by without reviewing what’s working, what’s not, and which opportunities you’re leaving on the table. A few focused actions can create lasting value for your employees and your business—and I can tell you from experience they’re less daunting than clearing out the garage. 

Read on for the eight elements every plan sponsor should review each year.  

Begin at the beginning. A few general oversight points can reveal ways to streamline. 

Is your plan actually working for your employees? Look at your testing results from the prior year. If you’re consistently failing nondiscrimination tests or hitting contribution limits that prevent your highly compensated employees from saving, it might be time to explore design changes like safe harbor provisions or automatic enrollment features. 

Think of plan design like tailoring a suit—what fit perfectly five years ago might not work for your company today. Your workforce has evolved, and your plan should, too.  

Action item: Arrange time with your advisor and/or TPA to review your annual compliance testing results. Even if you’re passing, inquire if there are areas of improvement that can be addressed to ensure the plan keeps fitting well. 

Employees leave, their small retirement account balances stay behind, and years later you’re tracking down someone who moved three times and changed their phone number twice. Every abandoned account on your books drives up administrative costs, increases fiduciary responsibility for balances that may never be claimed, and leads to greater scrutiny if the DOL or IRS comes knocking.

Force-outs (also called involuntary cash-outs) solve this problem by returning the cash or setting up automatic rollovers to a Safe Harbor IRA, depending on the account balance.  

Action item: Schedule time with your third-party administrator (TPA) or recordkeeper to review terminated employees with small balances and establish a force-out procedure if you don’t already have one.

When employees leave before they’re fully vested, those unvested employer contributions don’t disappear—they land in a forfeiture account. Many plans have thousands of dollars sitting in forfeiture accounts that could be reducing costs or increasing employee benefits right now. Forfeitures can: 

Here’s the catch: These funds typically must be used by the end of the plan year or the following year. Let them sit too long you risk facing compliance issues. 

Action item: Ask your service provider for your current forfeiture balance and review your plan document to understand your options for how you can utilize this balance.  

How is the engine of your plan running? Check into the following elements to make sure it’s as efficient as possible.

Investment fees are like termites—they do their damage quietly over time. A seemingly small difference in fees can cost participants tens of thousands of dollars over a career. 

As a fiduciary, you have a legal obligation to ensure the fees your participants pay are reasonable. This doesn’t mean you need the absolute cheapest options, but you do need to demonstrate that you’re monitoring costs and getting appropriate value. 

Action item: Request a fee benchmark analysis from your advisor or consultant comparing your plan’s investment expenses to similar plans.

As your workforce ages, retirement income solutions become increasingly important. Participants approaching retirement often struggle with how they’ll turn their account balance into a paycheck that lasts.  

Many plans are exploring and starting to offer in-plan annuities, managed payout options, or other tools that help bridge the gap from accumulation to distribution. 

Action item: Discuss with your advisor what tools are available and suitable for your employees.

Target-date funds are the autopilot of retirement investing—most participants are using them as their primary investment. But not all target-date funds are created equal. They vary significantly in how aggressively they invest, how quickly they become conservative, and how much they cost. 

At minimum, review whether your target-date series still aligns with your participants’ needs and whether better options have emerged in the marketplace. 

Action item: Request a target-date fund analysis showing how your current option compares to alternatives in terms of glide path, risk, and cost and whether that is suitable for your employees. 

Retirement saving doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Employees struggling with credit card debt, student loans, or emergency expenses often can’t prioritize their 401(k). It’s like asking someone to think about dessert when they’re worried about paying for groceries. 

Effective education meets people where they are—short videos, interactive tools, personalized projections, and one-on-one access to advisors. The goal isn’t to turn every employee into a financial expert but to help them take the next right step.

Action item: Survey your employees (anonymously) about their financial concerns, and explore wellness programs that address their most pressing needs. Then, review when and how you’re communicating with participants. Are you hosting the same annual meeting that people ignore? Could you offer virtual office hours, text-based tips, or targeted campaigns for specific groups (new hires, employees over 50, etc.)? 

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: in a DOL audit or participant lawsuit, it won’t matter how well you’ve managed the plan if you can’t prove it. Governance is about creating a documented trail that shows you take your fiduciary responsibilities seriously.

Take a look at everything you’re doing when it comes to oversight and documentation. It should include:  

Think of governance documentation like insurance—you hope you never need it, but you’ll be grateful it exists if something goes wrong. 

Action item: Establish a retirement plan committee (if you don’t have one) and create a meeting calendar for the year. Even quarterly 30-minute check-ins can make a significant difference.

Managing a retirement plan can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re juggling a dozen other responsibilities. But a little maintenance goes a long way. 

By taking these steps, you’ll: 

Need help working through these action items? That’s what we’re here for. Contact our team to schedule a plan review.