Happy employees make productiveemployees, and productive employees make profitable companies.(Photo: Shutterstock)

Sometimes the very thing you overlook can offer the opportunityyou seek. That's why we have such phrases as “think outside thebox” and “zig when everyone else zags.” Such platitudes adornconference room walls, but for all their wisdom, they often fall ondeaf ears as busy executives find themselves caught up in thehectic maelstrom of the day-to-day.

Thus, opportunities go unanswered. Solutions go unsolved.Earnings go unearned. All because competing priorities steal thetime from corporate decision makers.

Nowhere do we see this more than when it comes to the lowly401(k) plan (see “Top 5 Challenges Too Many 401k Plan Sponsors Aren'tAware of,” FiduciaryNews.com, December 4, 2018). It's notneglect. It's really just capacity limitations.

This isn't necessary. No matter how small the company, howinadequate the time, how busy the CEO, there's nothing about bestpractice 401(k) plans that can't be easily duplicated.

Now, I realize all service providers tout their package as the“best,” and that can send mixed messages to hard-working (onsomething else) plan sponsors. Nonetheless, there are objectiveorganizations that aren't looking for profits. These are the groupscompanies in search of solid retirement plans should rely on.

The goal, however, isn't merely to install a greatplan.  The real measure of success is the retirementconfidence of the employee. The plan is merely a means to an end.And the end is a comfortable retirement for each and everyemployee.

But getting to that goal can be worrisome foremployees, causing a loathsome distraction. Distractedemployees are not productive employees. That's bad news for thecompanies they work for.

Plan sponsors shouldn't view retirement plans as just anotheremployee benefit. Plans can represent a key cornerstone toprofitability – if done right. And by “done right” I mean in aholistic standpoint. This depends less on the investment menu(beyond the generic “long-term” option), and more on presentationmenu.

How do plan sponsors frame their company's 401(k) plan toemployees? Is it seen as a reason why take-home pay is less thanwhat it should be? Or is it the creation – piece by piece – of thatbeautiful jigsaw puzzle picture we call “retirement”? Employees canbe made to see how their engagement with their 401(k) plan fills inthose puzzle pieces. In doing so, they'll grow more confident intheir prospects of a comfortable retirement.

Where is this accomplished? In every communication to theemployee. Whether a regularly scheduled education meeting or, morelikely, in the quarterly recordkeeping statement or the on-lineportal employees use to access their account.

At every chance, each plan engagement should be associated withbelievable – and achievable – images of a comfortableretirement.

Subliminal advertising? Perhaps. But the idea is to associatethe plan with positive ideas and positive outcomes, then reaffirmthose ideas and outcomes with a record of completed milestonesemployees can easily keep track of. These milestones are nothingmore than baby steps.

Positive reinforcement.

Why is this important? Because if employees feel they're oncourse for a comfortable retirement, it gives them one less thingto worry about. One less distraction. More space of mind to thinkabout other things.

And that makes them happy. And a happy employee is a productiveemployee.

And companies with productive employees tend to be moreprofitable.