Products March 15, 2012

Mutual of Omaha Offers SmartPlan Service

March 15, 2012  (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Mutual of Omaha’s Retirement Plans Division will begin offering a new online retirement education service. 

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SmartPlan Enterprise will help educate and engage employees in preparing for their retirement future. It is an interactive, video-based online retirement education service created by vWise. Mutual of Omaha is offering the service at no additional cost to retirement plan advisers or plan sponsors.

SmartPlan increases plan participation and helps fulfill fiduciary duty while enhancing print communications and on site meetings, the company says. It uses a proprietary mix of video and interactive technologies to discuss specific plan features and benefits along with interactive applications to educate participants about risk tolerance, plan investments and other key features.

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It also helps plan participants better understand complex information and ultimately make personalized choices that meet their needs.

SmartPlan is fully customizable for each sponsor plan. They can brand it with the provider and/or sponsor logo, and choose which plan provisions the hosts will discuss, such as auto-enrollment, loans and matching contributions.

Benefits March 15, 2012

Sports Isn’t the Only Thing Workers Bet On

March 15, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - One-in-five surveyed workers (20%) said they have participated in March Madness pools at work.
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However, respondents to a CareerBuilder survey shared other amusing or memorable office pools they’ve participated in:  

• Who would be the first person to drink too much at a company party, 

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• When someone would punch out the supervisor, 

• How long the CEO’s fourth marriage would last, 

• Who in the office would be the last to get their power back after a big snow storm, 

• How many accidents would occur at the intersection outside of the office building, 

• What fake illness a co-worker would call in sick with, 

• How long it would take someone to quit, 

• When impending litigation would be filed against the company, 

• The amount of news coverage a particular celebrity would receive in a week, and 

• Who would grow the best beard in one month. 

 

Back to March Madness, nearly one-in-10 workers indicated they watch games at the office, and 17% spend, on average, more than an hour checking scores while on the clock.   

Men are more likely to participate in March Madness polls in the office, at 27%, compared to 13% of women.   

Comparing regions, workers in the Midwest are the most likely to place bets at work – 23% of Midwest workers took part in March Madness pools compared to 20% of workers in the West, 19% in the South and 18% in the Northeast. Among larger markets, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, New York and Chicago ranked the highest.   

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive among more than 7,000 workers between November 9 and December 5, 2011.

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