Consultancies must be dynamic in their approach toretirement benefits as well as overall total rewards, or risklosing client loyalty through overreaching and/or under-delivering.(Photo: Shutterstock)

Retirement benefits are in a continual state of flux, with newchallenges presenting every day in the form of new regulations,market volatility, and employee demand. Consequently, employers continue to search for new andinnovative ways to remain on sound financial footing with retirement plans while still delightingexisting employees and utilizing rewards as an attraction andretention tool.

Within the consulting landscape, specialization in specificretirement benefit service offerings still exists, but it is anuphill battle in the face of clients increasingly seeking holisticsolutions, whether that is a DB and DC capability, DB/DC andfinancial well-being, or total rewards, which factors in a much widervariety of benefits and services geared toward improving theemployee experience and perception of the companies for whom theywork.

Advantage in this market goes toward the consultancies that areable to offer a broad level of services, but can also scale it downto the tactical level as needed.

Consultancies must be dynamic in their approach to retirementbenefits as well as overall total rewards, or risk losing clientloyalty through overreaching and/or under-delivering.

ALM Consulting Intelligence has been researching the managementconsulting industry for over 40 years, examining the globalconsulting marketplace across a variety of topic areas. ALMCI usesextensive proprietary research methodologies, primary, andsecondary resources to examine consulting firms' client-servingcapabilities. Each year, it reviews the retirementbenefits consulting market and juxtaposes market trends againstconsulting capabilities across a large selection of firms from adepth, breadth, and client impact perspective. For 2019, ALMCI'stop 5 consulting firms for retirement benefits are as follows:

Aon

Aon's suite of retirement consulting services covers the fullspectrum of retirement benefits advisory needs, including plandesign, global risk, DB and DC advisory, and legal consulting,among others. The firm approaches retirement consulting with afocus on reducing the retirement readiness gap for employees.

The average employee is typically not adequately preparing forretirement, and Aon works with clients to improve individualemployee outcomes while creating an agile retirement benefits planthat is able to effectively navigate regulatory changes and marketvolatility.

Possessing a comprehensive suite of advisory services forretirement benefits, Aon's breadth of capability stands out in thecompetitive landscape. Utilizing extensive benchmarking andassessment tools to understand client needs, the firm is stronglypositioned to improve benefits outcomes and individual employeeretirement readiness.

Strongest attribute(s):

External market insight: Aon effectivelyutilizes its extensive client base to create a deep catalog ofbenchmarking data, conveyed to clients through the firm's BenefitsIndex tool as well as summarized rewards specifications tailored toindustry and geography. Coupled with the firm's understanding ofregulations across the globe, Aon is afforded strong insights intoexternal market factors.

Deloitte

Service delivery for Deloitte's retirement advisory is providedwithin the context of retirement providers and employers. Forproviders, the firm provides operational optimization through smartutilization of technologies and automation. For employers, Deloitteprovides end-to-end consultative support, starting with needsassessments derived through client workforce analysis, juxtaposedagainst market trends and established benchmarks.

The firm's thorough assessment phase leads to the development oftailored strategies for total rewards, pensions risk, sourcing, andtax reform, among others, and drives decision-making for vendorselection and governance.

Deloitte's approach to retirement benefits is largely in thecontext of holistic rewards management, which includes healthbenefits, compensation, well-being, and employee experience.

While able to place retirement benefits within the broadercontext of total rewards transformation, the firm also providesdiscrete service offerings specifically for DB and DC plans as wellas financial wellness.

Strongest attribute(s):

Client operating system development: Deloitte'srewards optimization approach effectively improves operationswithin client organizations, offering comprehensive benefitsofferings at reduced operating costs. The use of digital tools,automation, and process improvements creates greater efficienciesand operational excellence.

Project management: Deloitte's ability to scaleup to total rewards or scale down to specific engagements in thebenefits space, such as retirement, denotes a strong capability toprioritize based on client needs in addition to agility as thoseneeds evolve through the transformation process. The firm'scross-functional teams are able to quickly adapt to new clientobjectives, while project leadership remains keenly aware ofoverarching end goals.

EY

EY posits that traditional approaches to retirement benefits aredisjointed and not mature enough to manage increasing complexitiesof benefits diversity and investment challenges due to marketvolatility. To that end, the firm's services seek to evolve dailyoperations as well as high level strategic thinking to align withmodern challenges, improving agility for decision-makers to adaptquickly as trends continually evolve.

Enabling this approach is EY's global presence and familiaritywith various regulatory environments. Taking a global perspectiveand applying it to local client challenges, the firm offers bestpractices gleaned from a variety of sources, supported bybenchmarking and tangible results.

Leveraging its breadth of experience in various geographies,EY's retirement benefits consulting comes from a global mindset,gleaning best practices in various regions to create unique andinnovative solutions for clients.

The firm stresses the importance of stakeholder buy-in acrossthe pensions and retirement value chain in order to successfullystrategize and implement holistic transformation in the areas ofoperations, governance, risk, and investment, among others.

Strongest attribute:

Stakeholder buy-in: EY has doubled down on itsimmersion capabilities, offered through the firm's wavespacecenters. The firm takes care to ensure decision-makers across theclient enterprise are committed to transformation, ensuring thatstrategies put in place survive long after the consultingengagement.

Mercer

Mercer is a full service rewards management solutions provider,offering services across the entire spectrum of benefits foremployers and employees. The firm leverages its breadth of rewardsmanagement capabilities to bring tailored advisory teams to DB andDC clients. The firm's approach to DB stresses agility when facedwith market and regulatory volatility.

For DC, Mercer seeks to use employee freedoms in retirementbenefits selection to improve individual outcomes while providingemployers with the right tools to ensure effective utilization anda positive experience for the workforce.

Woven into both DB and DC client plan strategies, Mercer'sfinancial wellness advisory seeks to take individualism inretirement futures a step further, providing employees with thetools and information necessary to better understand their currentand future financial status. Employees equipped with this knowledgeare more financially secure, and the firm helps clients' workforcesreach this stage to improve productivity, engagement, andretention.

From an overarching financial management perspective, Mercer'sholistic view on benefits through its breadth of services isadvantageous. The firm takes a full picture view of client spendingon rewards to establish strategies from a total rewards perspectivethat encourages employee participation and satisfaction whileremaining cognizant of costs, ROI, and VOI.

Strongest attribute(s):

Needs assessment: Mercer's significant breadthof services in the retirement benefits space, including advisory,technology, and administration, gives the firm a strong data setfrom which to understand client needs through best practices andbenchmarking.  The firm is effective in securingstakeholder buy-in through demonstrable results.

PwC

PwC provides a series of advisory services to DB and DC clients,including pensions strategy, risk and cash flow optimization, plandesign, transformation, M&A services, and financial management.The firm continues to develop its advisory in this area through itstechnology-enabled consulting core tenet.

PwC smartly uses technology solutions to reduce burden onclients in management of retirement benefits through improvedautomation, reporting, and transparency, allowing greater focus onstrategic thinking over daily operations.

Leveraging its significant breadth of capabilities acrossmultiple service lines, PwC's approach to retirement benefitscovers a wide spectrum of services in tune with the most criticalconcerns of clients today. Guided through thought leadership onmajor impacts to the retirement market as well as continueddevelopment of technology-enabled solutions, PwC's advisory in thisarea provides holistic transformation that reduces risk,streamlines processes, and improves ROI.

Strongest attribute(s):

Internal client insight: Derived through itsanalytics platforms and 'glocal' knowledge, PwC provides strongquantitative and qualitative insights for clients contending withincreasingly diverse challenges.  The firm is effective inestablishing baselines of current performance and conveying theimpacts of transformation on clients' bottom lines as well as theemployee experience.

Strategy: With its strong internal clientinsight capabilities that continue to adapt and evolve to marketsand client demands, PwC is well positioned to provide functionalinternal strategies that lead to financially sound retirementbenefits plans with optimal utilization derived from workforceassessment and engagement. Matthew Merker is aSenior Analyst with ALM Intelligence, providing competitiveintelligence in the management consulting industry. Matthew hasresearched the benefits consulting industry for over four years,bringing in-depth analysis of defined benefit, definedcontribution, private exchange, health, and well-being. Previously,he has worked as an Associate and Senior Consultant for Booz AllenHamilton, providing management consulting services for publicsector clients, including the Department of Defense, Department ofHomeland Security, and others.