Lincoln Financial Group

Lincoln Financial Group, with headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania, took its name from its 16th president, whose “character and ideals have guided us since 1905 as we strive to build a better world with greater financial security and opportunity for all,” the company says on its website. Those values, the company says, undergird its four core businesses: annuities, life insurance, group protection and retirement plan services. They also guide its decisions in finding ways to support its plan participants.

After three years of research, starting in 2019 with a market evaluation, and consultation with investment advisers, legal experts and in-house Employee Retirement Income Security Act counsel, Lincoln added an in-plan guaranteed lifetime income option to its 401(k) plan.

Once the decision to offer the fund was made, the benefits team got to work creating the educational and communications materials necessary to introduce the lifetime income option to participants. That included creating a frequently asked questions document and building informational webinars focused on this and other funds available in the plan. More than 600 employees participated in those webinars, says Melissa Santostefano, assistant vice president of retirement plans and total rewards at Lincoln Financial Group.

“Participants found the webinars to be really informative and helpful and thought we were able to give them the right information to decide whether this lifetime income option is something they want as part of their retirement strategy,” she says. “It goes back to the high-touch concierge service that, culturally, Lincoln likes to provide not only to employees and participants in their plan, but also to their customers.”

That high-touch service begins right away, with the company’s three retirement consultants aiming to meet one-on-one with every new employee that joins the company. Last year, that meant the team had more than 5,000 meetings with participants.

“It’s so nice for the employees starting with Lincoln to have a colleague that meets with you within your first week,” Santostefano says. “There’s so much going on in those first few weeks, between meeting new team members and enrolling in benefits, that we thought it was also important to have a retirement consultant meet the new hire and introduce themselves as a personal concierge if they have any questions about the plan for as long as they remain at Lincoln.”

Those one-on-one meetings also allow retirement consultants to personalize their message and highlight the most relevant parts of the plan for the new employee. The topics covered in a meeting with a recent college graduate, for example, are likely different than those covered for a mid-to-late-career hire who might be planning for retirement in the near future.

Retirement consultants work with each participant to help the person determine the best savings rate for her personal situation and answer any other financial wellness questions that might arise on topics ranging from budgeting basics, Social Security planning and decumulation strategies.

“From the start of someone’s career at Lincoln to the end, these retirement consultants play a tremendous role in keeping participants informed about broader things that happen in the market and also tailoring specific advice,” Santostefano says. “It just adds to the culture of the organization and is one of many reasons why people want to stay at Lincoln: They have a personal financial coach on the other side of their email or phone, any time.”

—Beth Braverman