From seafood restaurants to salons to auto-repair shops, small businesses are at the heart of the Cape and Plymouth communities – bringing people together by offering goods and services locally. Over the past couple of years, we’ve learned just how resilient small businesses can be.
But the job of a small business owner comes with many challenging decisions including balancing doing what’s best not only for their business, but by focusing on the needs of their employees and how to keep them on. One of these choices is whether to offer an employer-sponsored retirement plan that can help their employees save for retirement. At Rockland Trust, we are thrilled to offer Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) to small businesses to not only provide a benefit to their employees but also set them apart in the talent market.
Recent legislation introduced a new form of retirement program called PEPs, which is a 401(k) Plan with streamlined administration and costs that are normally reserved for much larger employers. The Rockland Trust PEP is a flexible and cost effective retirement solution for small businesses. You’ll be able to work with a dedicated Retirement Plan Consultant in order to establish a 401(k) Plan so that small businesses owners and their employees will have an opportunity to save for the future.
Studies show that employees are more likely to save for retirement when they have access to a retirement plan at work. However, for small companies, the cost and resources required to establish and manage a retirement plan can be prohibitive. Only 53 percent of small business employees have access to workplace retirement plans. And with nearly half of all private sector workers employed by small companies, that means almost 30 million Americans are without retirement plan access. Another more recent survey of small businesses found that only 26 percent of companies with under 50 employees offered a retirement plan. Of the respondents that decided to offer a plan, the most common reasons cited for offering a plan were:
- 71 percent felt a personal responsibility to their employees to provide one
- 47 percent felt it helped the business attract and retain employees
- 26 percent wanted the ability to make tax deductible contributions into the plan
- 21 percent wanted to save for their own retirement
Removing Obstacles For Small Business Employers
The labor shortage has made it common for consumers to experience longer wait times and display some patience. Employers are doing their best to attract and train new employees. One component of a benefits package that is often overlooked is the retirement plan. The Rockland Trust PEP is designed to make it easier for small business employers to set up and manage their retirement plan, while also closing the retirement gap – allowing workers of all ages to have access to retirement plans to save for their future. If you run a small business and want to improve employee retention while spending more time running your business by offloading the majority of the administrative work that comes with running a traditional 401(k) Plan, PEPs may be able to help.
We know as a business owner you wear the operations, marketing, human resources as well as many other hats throughout your day to day. With the PEP you’ll have access to not only a day-to-day direct expert but also local employee engagement and educational resources such as articles, calculators and videos to ensure everyone is comfortable and happy with the service.
To learn more about Rockland Trust’s Pooled Employer Plan, an end-to-end solution available for employers, contact either Sean McGarry at 781-982-6594 or email him at Sean.McGarry@RocklandTrust.com or Jay Donnelly, at 508-732-3893 or his email at James.Donnelly@RocklandTrust.com
Sean McGarry is a Vice President and Retirement Plan Services Manager who has been with Rockland Trust since 2005. James “Jay” Donnelly is a Vice President and Financial Consultant, who has been with Rockland Trust since 2019.
