Plan sponsor newsletter

To help keep participants focused on and enthusiastic through the summer and early fall months, we’re dedicating this quarter’s It’s about time activities to Checking in on your financial independence.

Our financial well-being quarterly email dates are July 25 through August 18.

• Topics include tracking your progress and projecting your income needs in retirement.¹
• On-demand education covers retirement planning and understanding the stock market.

Our journey-based outreach hits participant email boxes September 5 through 18. 

These targeted messages help nudge participants to start saving, save more, or consider personalizing their retirement strategy based on their needs.

And finally, our Q3 advocacy components will help support your own efforts to promote National 401(k) Day (which falls on Friday, September 8) and open enrollment.

Copies of the upcoming quarterly highlights and targeted outreach—plus downloads of advocacy materials—will be available soon on the It’s about time web page. 

This spring, John Hancock published our ninth annual financial stress survey² based on a survey of more than 3,800 participants in our clients’ retirement plans. Our 2023 survey spotlights the causes, levels, and consequences of financial stress, as well as potential remedies. 

Among the highly relevant findings you’ll learn about in “Stress, finances, and well-being: driving behaviors that matter” are:

• The impact of record-high inflation and rising interest rates
• The connection among participants’ actions, financial situation, and level of stress
• The support they want to help them manage their financial lives
• How retirement plans and financial wellness programs have become must-haves for participants

Dig into the details

Watch the replay of our “Stress, finances, and well-being” webinar for plan sponsors.

Visit retirement.johnhancock.com/stress for an overview and to download our full report.

Read viewpoints from members of our leadership team:

• Deepen relationships by helping plan sponsors tackle participants’ financial stress
• Three reasons employers should help workers manage their financial stress
• Helping workers manage four areas of financial stress
• Financial stress—how financial professionals and plan sponsors are making a difference

These webinars, led by ERISA and economic experts from John Hancock, supply valuable insight for the new and veteran fiduciaries on your staff and plan committee.

Understanding the roles and responsibilities of a plan fiduciary

This 2023 version of our popular fiduciary webinar features Chris Frank, head of DC consulting, and Ted Pirrera, director and senior ERISA consultant. Topics include:

• The important roles ERISA fiduciaries play and what’s expected of them
• Current DOL and IRS enforcement activity and 2023 priorities
• ERISA litigation trends
• Current hot topics—including SECURE 2.0 compliance
• Best practice considerations

Watch the replay

Recession, stagflation, or a new normal?

With change being a reliable constant in the economy and the market, join Frances Donald, global chief economist and strategist, and Nathan W. Thooft, CFA, chief investment officer, of Manulife Investment Management, to hear their views on: 

• How to navigate recession risks
• A shifting inflation paradigm and what it may mean for interest rates
• Asset allocation perspectives in a rapidly evolving macro and market environment

Watch the replay

Q2 2023 legislative update

Join Chris Frank, head of DC consulting, and Tami Guimelli, assistant vice president and associate chief counsel, for their latest review of the new and pending laws and regulations that could affect your plan and participants.

This quarter, they discuss:

• What’s new with SECURE 2.0
• IRS and DOL priorities for 2023
• The most recent ruling in the Northwestern University case
• Why the DOL dropped its appeal of the case involving its fiduciary rollover guidance

Watch the replay

Registration for live, recorded replay and on-demand-only webinars is available for your participants on our webinar web page. We’ll be promoting all these events, as appropriate, in our financial well-being quarterly emails.

Understanding the stock market
(on-demand only)

Every plan participant is an investor. And our five-part special learning series helps give them an understanding of how economic conditions may affect the stock market and their investments for retirement and other financial goals.

Featuring thought leaders from John Hancock and Manulife Investment Management, this series includes:

1 “Introduction to the stock market,” available beginning June 14

2 “Understanding risk,” available beginning June 28

3 “Long-term versus short-term investing,” available beginning July 12

4 “Managing market volatility,” available beginning July 26

5 “Recognizing stock market trends,” available beginning August 9

There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will achieve its objectives.

Making the most of Social Security
(live only)

Representatives from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) will discuss how to calculate your benefits, factors to consider when choosing your start date, and much more. Due to SSA guidelines, a recorded replay won’t be available.

• English language sessions available August 16 and 23
• Spanish language session available August 24

National 401(k) Day Celebration
(live with replays)

English and Spanish language sessions available on September 8

As we head into midsummer, we’re happy to let you know that our plan sponsor services organization continues to make important progress in executing on our commitment to provide exceptional customer experiences for you and your participants.

Areas of focus

Here are several key initiatives we’re focusing on as we enhance our ability to help deliver the responsiveness, follow-through, and resolution that you and your employees need and deserve. 

Service excellence—Renewing our customer experience commitment, leveraging our new team structure and functions, and driving our service delivery model

Digital and data—Using our time-tested dashboards and scorecards, integrating new dashboards, and applying deep analysis to help drive the customer experience

Leveraging relationships—Creating new, cross-functional synergies involving our sales, relationship management, product, and operations teams

A renewed customer experience commitment—An all-hands, all-out effort to help make it easy by doing it right the first time, act with urgency and on time, and follow up (and through) to resolution.

The numbers are strong

2022 brought significant gains in call responsiveness—as well as continually higher Net Promoter Scores for participant service, plan sponsor onboarding support, and overall plan sponsor support.³

Just a reminder that as of April 2023, all invoices for expenses related to your plan are being posted to the plan sponsor website. Printed/mailed invoices are no longer an option.

This change is part of our commitment to provide a digital experience that makes plan management more efficient.

As soon as a new invoice is ready, we’ll send you a message center notification with a link to the Billing summary page. Once you’re on that page, simply select the invoice number to view the details. You can then authorize a payment on the Make a payment page.

Past invoices aren’t available on the website. If you need copies or have questions about them, please contact your John Hancock representative.

Distribution SmartLink is a web-based tool that simplifies the process of sending departing employees important information and education about their retirement plan distribution options. You choose whether this kit is sent to participants by mail or by email. And for your convenience, you can order one or multiple kits at the same time.

Distribution SmartLink can help you:

• Educate retiring and other terminating employees on their options for managing their retirement savings, helping them make informed decisions
• Save time and money that you’d otherwise spend on assembling and mailing materials
• Stay organized with the ability to review your order status and order history

New to Distribution SmartLink? Check out our FAQs or watch our video to see the tool and our simple activation process in action.