The job market has regained some stability over the last year, creating a more even power dynamic between employees and candidates, and employers. That doesn’t change the need to attract good prospects and keep current valued employees. Not all employers can afford to roll out the red carpet on employee benefits, including things like no-cost health coverage, unlimited PTO and free childcare. There is one benefit that virtually all employees want access to, and a route for employers of all sizes to access it: a retirement plan. 

Our family of companies created a 401(k) Multi-Employer Plan (MEP) under SuretyHR, and it’s available to all of our clients. This plan is designed to provide more cost-effective, streamlined options to employers with existing plans, and make those benefits accessible for employers of all sizes without a retirement plan in place. Multi-Employer Plans aren’t guaranteed to be less expensive simply because of their structure, and it’s hard to judge the service aspect if you don’t know any of their current clients. If you work with Spooner Inc, SuretyHR or Spooner Medical Administrators – you know a few businesses that participate in this MEP. It’s the same retirement plan that provides for all of our employees! Plenty of SuretyHR and Spooner clients have joined as well, and we’ll be sharing some of their success stories in the coming months. 

The assumed cost and administrative work involved with creating and maintaining a retirement plan is the reason many employers give for not offering one, or not making a move to a better plan. A MEP doesn’t equal a one-size-fits-all plan design. Those details are still determined by the employer with the guidance of our partner, Vantage Financial. Vantage acts as the co-fiduciary on the plan, and will provide you and your employees with the same helpful advice and education as they have with our own staff. 
A few more advantages of the SuretyHR MEP are:

• Reasonable fees – approximately 0.73% of plan assets, everything included. This beats nearly any single employer or other MEP arrangement out there.  
• Fiduciary risk shifting – SuretyHR takes on the role of plan sponsor, alleviating the main fiduciary role for your clients. Employers are responsible for high-level oversight, but not day-to-day plan operational issues.
• Vantage Financial Group serves as the fiduciary investment advisor and can also provide participant-level financial wellness services
• Local TPA services provided by July Business Services
• Rea & Associates CPAs serves as an independent plan trustee, providing overall plan governance
• An added bonus – if your organization is a SuretyHR PEO or Payroll client, you’ll also have the advantage of seamless integration with our payroll software, PrismHR.  

For employers without a plan in place already, the SECURE 2.0 Act includes provisions to provide small businesses (under 100 employees making $5000/yr) with tax credits during the first three years that the plan is maintained. These credits can be applied to up to 100% of the plan’s start-up costs and employer contributions (varies based on employee count and plan year).
Please reach out to your client services team at SuretyHR or Spooner Inc. if you’d like to explore our 401(k) MEP plan and find out how easily it could help you retain your valuable employees.