Determine how much participants are paying in investment and plan administration fees. If you haven’t benchmarked these fees in over a year, it is time for an update. Consider whether the market decline has jeopardized the fee guarantees under your contract, thus reducing your leverage in enforcing service level agreements.

Confirm that all investment funds in the lineup are appropriate. Some active funds might take more risk than is appropriate while index funds may use securities lending. Review each fund in the plan, including conducting an up-to-date evaluation of performance, style and risks (tracking error). Additionally, determine what fund should be the low-risk investment option – stable value or money market.

Review the effectiveness in managing your DC plan employer contributions. The economic downturn is forcing review of benefit costs at most companies and some are even reducing cash contributions to their DC plans. If necessary, consider alternative designs that maximize value to participants while managing the total cost.

Determine whether your target maturity funds are appropriate for your current participant population. If the target funds were simply selected from the record keeper’s offerings, consider actively screening a broader group of funds and choosing the series that is appropriate for your plans. Some sponsors should consider customized life cycle funds based on their participant demographics.

Ascertain how effective your communications strategy is with plan participants. This is a good time to revisit financial and investment education. Given the market turbulence and economic uncertainty, what information should be provided to plan participants? Consider whether to begin providing access to investment advice.

Confirm that you are ready to comply with US Department of Labor (DOL) disclosure regulations once they are finalized. Evaluate pending DOL regulations regarding disclosures and ensure appropriate information will be available to comply with regulations once finalized.

Review and revise your plan’s Investment Policy Statement (IPS). In the current market environment, fiduciary risk is high and an up-to-date IPS can help minimize this risk.

Determine whether your plan governance structure creates unnecessary risk for the company, the board members and senior executives. Ask yourself: Would our oversight processes pass the prudent due diligence test in court?

Review administrative procedures to ensure compliance. Especially if the human resources staff is reduced, there is a risk that compliance oversight may suffer. Review administrative procedures to minimize compliance issues since non-compliance can potentially be costly. For example, could your DC plan be in danger of failing discrimination testing as the composition of your workforce, and their savings habits, change?

Consider plan options in order to provide participants with an opportunity to manage their retirement income. Begin educating the investment committee on post-retirement type products. There are a number of new “spend-down” offerings on the market that can help your participants manage longevity risk, now widely acknowledged as a major drawback of DC plans.