MassMutual Introduces New, Timesaving Features for Retirement Plan Administrators
Automation, flexibility make online retirement plan administration easier, more accurate
SPRINGFIELD, MA, October 6, 2004 -- MassMutual's Retirement Services division today announced a series of enhancements to its highly-regarded online administrative services that will enable plan sponsors to easily submit payroll information, automate eligibility tracking, enhance communications, and simplify year-end processing.
The enhancements to the Total Retirement Center (TRC) [http://www.massmutual.com/retire], MassMutual's comprehensive, online plan information and service site, further streamline plan sponsors' administrative duties by making it possible to automate routine tasks, save time and easily correct errors. The new tools are available to MassMutual's defined contribution, defined benefit, and total retirement services plan sponsors. "The new and enhanced features will help our plan sponsors spend less time on routine administrative tasks and more time on matters of strategic importance," said Frederick C. Castellani, executive vice president and head of MassMutual's Retirement Services division. "We continuously strive to make it easier for plan sponsors to do business with us, and these enhancements do just that."
Among the enhancements is a simplified, secure process for submitting demographic and compensation files. By enabling plan sponsors to easily perform these data transfers, MassMutual can provide added services that make plan sponsors' jobs easier and simplify year-end processes. For example, using the employee information files, MassMutual's integrated systems can automatically:
- calculate participant eligibility;
- send out personalized enrollment materials; and
- provide personalized action packages when a participant terminates or retires.
The enhancements include:
- A file mapping wizard that enables MassMutual to accommodate plan sponsors' individual file format preferences. In a few minutes, plan sponsors can set up a file format for easy transfer of information to MassMutual without having to spend time translating data into rigid, standardized forms.
- Immediate feedback and error correction on file transfers, which improves the accuracy of data. An error correction process highlights erroneous information, explains how to correct it and allows for immediate correction of individual records.
- Expanded push e-mail capabilities that enable MassMutual to proactively communicate with plan sponsors.
"These enhancements are designed to make data transfer easier and more accurate, which ultimately means less work for plan sponsors," said Castellani. "With a few mouse clicks on our TRC, plan sponsors can accomplish complicated tasks and also benefit from having our systems handle other jobs automatically."
The new features build on MassMutual's cutting edge online infrastructure and come on the heels of a series of other enhancements that allow plan sponsors to:
- Monitor loans for delinquency and potential defaults or suspensions;
- Have loans mailed directly to participants' homes, avoiding paper-pushing;
- Receive payroll updates that eliminate paper requests for salary contribution changes;
- Run custom reports that provide plan-level and participant summary financial information for a specified timeframe; and
- Use interactive e-mail technology to track plan-processing events and include links that provide recipients with direct access to secure Web page event status updates.
The most recent enhancements are the product of ongoing feedback from plan sponsors assessing their current and future plan administration needs. MassMutual introduced its TRC in 2000 and since then has received very high customer satisfaction marks from industry benchmarking surveys such as Plan Sponsor magazine's annual defined contribution surveys and the Boston Research Group's annual "Defined Contribution Provider" surveys for its Internet-based plan sponsor services.
About MassMutual Retirement Services
MassMutual Retirement Services has been serving retirement plans for more than 55 years. It offers a full range of products and services for corporate, union, non-profit and governmental employers' defined benefit, defined contribution and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. It serves approximately 850,000 participants.
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