Year-end is a smart time for plan sponsors to pause and review how their retirement plan is running. A short checkup now can help you catch problems early, lower risk, and start the new year with a plan that works better for your business and your employees. This guide walks through the most important areas to review, without making it complicated.
Whether you are a business owner, HR or finance leader, or part of a fiduciary committee, a year-end checkup can help make sure your plan is working as intended. Here are the key areas to review before the year comes to a close.
Plan Operations & Compliance: Make Sure the Plan Is Being Run Correctly
Start by making sure the day-to-day details of your plan are being handled correctly. Small administrative errors can become bigger problems when they go unnoticed.
Your HR or benefits team can review eligibility and enrollment, while your payroll team can help verify contribution details. Your TPA can also help confirm that plan requirements are being followed.
Checklist items to review:
- Eligibility and entry dates: Are employees entering the plan on time?
- Employee deferrals: Are deductions set up correctly in payroll?
- Deposit timing: Are employee contributions sent to the plan promptly?
- Employer match/profit sharing: Are formulas applied correctly and consistently?
- Compensation used: Are you using the right pay definition (W-2, eligible comp, bonuses, etc.)?
- Loans and hardships: Are they processed and documented correctly?
If you’re unsure about any item above, you’re not alone. Operations and compliance are where small mistakes can add up. A year-end review helps you correct issues while they’re still manageable and better prepares you for annual reporting and next year’s administration.
Plan Design Fit: Confirm the Plan Still Matches Your Business
Your business may look different today than it did when your retirement plan was created. Year-end is a good opportunity to ask whether your plan still supports your goals for your employees and your business.
Consider whether plan features support hiring, retention, and employee participation. California Pensions supports both defined contribution and defined benefit plans, helping employers evaluate solutions that fit their needs.
Consider Reviewing:
- Whether your employer match encourages employees to save
- Whether eligibility rules still fit your workforce
- Roth and pre-tax contribution options, if available
- Changes in hiring, ownership, or business structure
- Whether your current plan design still supports your goals
Don’t make the mistake of thinking plan design should be making changes every year! Plan design is all about where your company is today and making sure the plan is still the right fit. Even small updates can improve employee outcomes and reduce confusion for HR and payroll.
Service Providers & Fees: Check “Value vs. Cost”
Your retirement plan may involve several providers, including a recordkeeper, TPA, payroll provider, and advisor. Because each group plays a different role, it’s important to know who is responsible for what—and to confirm those responsibilities are being handled accurately and on time.
As part of your plan checkup, review the services you receive, how responsive your providers are, and what you’re paying for those services. This includes plan administration, recordkeeping, and any other applicable fees. Your TPA can help clarify provider responsibilities and help you understand what is included in your plan’s services.
What to review:
Provider Roles
Provider Roles
Are duties clear between the recordkeeper, TPA, payroll, and advisor?
Service Quality
Service Quality
Are timelines, accuracy, and communication meeting expectations?
Fees
Fees
What fees are being charged (plan administration, recordkeeping, and other applicable service fees)?
What Fees Include
What Fees Include
Are duties clear between the recordkeeper, TPA, payroll, and advisor?
The goals here are to make sure your plan is running smoothly, your providers are meeting expectations, and you’re receiving fair value for the services you pay for.
Participant Experience: Review Plan Health and Employee Outcomes
Your retirement plan is an important employee benefit, but participation and savings rates can show how well employees are using it. Reviewing a few key metrics can help you identify where employees may need additional education, encouragement, or support.
Key areas to review include:
- Participation rate (how many eligible employees are in the plan?)
- Average deferral rate (how much people are saving?)
- Full-match participation (are employees contributing enough to receive the full employer match, if offered?)
- Loans and hardship withdrawals (are employees frequently taking money from their retirement savings?)
Plan sponsors can also take simple steps to encourage participation, such as reminding employees about increasing contributions, sharing catch-up contribution information when applicable, and refreshing new-hire enrollment materials.
Small, consistent efforts can help employees better understand and use their retirement benefits. A quick review of these numbers can also highlight where additional communication or plan support may be helpful.
Governance & Risk: Document a Simple Fiduciary Process
Plan sponsors and fiduciary committees play an important role in overseeing a retirement plan. Keeping a simple record of what was reviewed, what decisions were made, and any follow-up items helps create a consistent governance process and makes future reviews easier.
A simple way to stay organized is to use a consistent agenda and meeting format (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) so the same key items are reviewed each time. This makes it easier to track trends, ensure nothing gets missed, and maintain continuity as committee members or service providers change.
Your plan records should include:
- What areas of the plan were reviewed
- Decisions that were made, including decisions to make no changes
- Any action items or follow-up needed
- A simple recap of the review for the plan file
The goal isn’t to create unnecessary paperwork. It’s about having a clear record of your plan oversight and keeping everyone involved on the same page. If your TPA handles parts of this process, California Pensions can help make sure the appropriate information is reviewed and documented.
Finish the Year With Confidence
A year-end retirement plan checkup helps plan sponsors confirm the plan is running correctly, still fits the business, provides good value for the cost, and supports better employee outcomes. It also strengthens your fiduciary process by showing what you reviewed and what you decided.
If you want a clearer, easier path through these steps, contact California Pensions today to review your plan and get expert support. A short conversation now can help you start next year with fewer surprises and more confidence.
