Are employers looking at pensions through an outdated lens?
Is your retirement program fit for purpose?
Not every sponsor with a strong balance sheet will act. Some remain satisfied with their DC setup. But for those that see both the financial capacity and the employee demand, the next step is designing something that fits within their specific cost tolerances, risk appetite and governance structure.
“We’re doing this for a purpose, and it has to fit within the employers’ goals for their employee total rewards programs and how they’re going to attract for talent, how they’re going to retain talent, what their overall sort of deal is. So that’s the way we see it.”
For sponsors looking to pressure test whether a modern pension belongs in their strategy, Kosoff said the starting point is a basic question: does the current retirement program still serve its purpose in 2026?
After all, many organizations, particularly in the US, are running multi-tiered systems – legacy DB structures for one group, DC-only for another, sometimes with bargained and non-bargained populations layered on top. In many cases, he suggests, the overall design hasn’t been reviewed in a decade or more.
That’s why Kosoff underscored the goal is to map what the full workforce is receiving, across generations and employment groups, and then ask whether it delivers what the organization needs it to.
