A New Partnership…

We’ve launched a new partnership with Zenefits,* one of the most innovative HR and payroll software and services providers.

Human Interest is an online 401(k) and 403(b) provider. Together with Zenefits, we focus on providing affordable, customizable, automated retirement benefit plans that match the needs of small and medium-sized businesses.

We couldn’t be more excited! There’s great alignment between their mission and ours: to serve America’s small and medium-sized businesses.

Through this partnership, we’ll be offering a “no-touch” integration. That means that businesses who use Zenefits’ payroll software will be able to offer a Human Interest 401(k) or 403(b) to their employees without any manual work that’s involved in managing a company’s retirement plan, such as updating contributions amounts, sending out compliance notifications, etc. Read more here.

“This integration will make it easy for nonprofits and businesses under the Zenefits umbrella to seamlessly access a great retirement savings plan. Our plans outcompete other those of other firms, not only on affordability but also in terms of the plan’s customizability, flexibility, and the quality of our service. Human Interest provides support for both employees and admins, delivers an easy-to-use interface, and even comes with built-in investment education with personalized features for each employee,” said Rakesh Mahajan, Head of Partnerships at Human Interest.

…to Serve America’s Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

Small and medium-sized businesses, defined by the Small Business Administration as an employer with fewer than 500 employees, are the backbone of the American workforce. SMBs account for:

• 58.9 million employees — that’s nearly half the U.S. workforce

• 30.2 million small businesses — that’s more than 99% of businesses in the U.S.

Yet small organizations face outsized challenges when it comes to benefits. At both Human Interest and Zenefits, we realize this is a huge market being let down. “Like Human Interest, at Zenefits we’re dedicated to serving the needs of the underserved small businesses that fuel our economy, by providing solutions to help them scale and stay competitive in their space,” said Andrea Shannon, Sr. Director of Business Development, Zenefits.

Small Business’s Big Retirement Challenge

We believe that everyone deserves access to a secure financial future. Right now, the retirement savings crisis disproportionately affects America’s small businesses. But there’s hope: Small business owners can help ensure a secure financial future in retirement for more than 42 million Americans and their families. But, right now, just 14 percent of small employers sponsor some type of plan for their employees to save for retirement, according to a 2012 report by the Government Accountability Office.

Why Small Businesses Don’t Offer Their Employees a Retirement Saving Plan….

There are many reasons why smaller organizations don’t think about offering a 401(k) — but they should. In part, this is because traditional 401(k) providers have focused only on big business. However, with several newer modern 401(k) plan providers on the market, including those that specialize in the needs of small and medium-sized organizations, these reasons are often no longer true.

Myth #1: My organization is too small to offer one

This is one of the top reasons that employers cite for not offering a retirement plan. However, it’s not true. Even owner-only organizations or people who are self-employed can open a retirement savings plan—and the costs are lower than in previous years.

Myth #2: A 401(k) is hard to set up and manage

Human Interest takes the hassle out of managing your company’s 401(k): compliance testing, recordkeeping, paperwork—even automating syncs with your payroll. A Human Interest retirement savings plan can be set up in just a few minutes.

Myth #3: A 401(k) is expensive

With plans starting as low as $120 per month and $4 per employee per month, Human Interest is able to lighten the administrative burden mentioned above while keeping costs low for employers. In addition, we have zero transaction fees, eliminating hidden costs that can add up, like fees charged when you choose to make changes to your plan. And employees enjoy the same low costs as their employers. In fact, with a combined 0.57%¹ cost, a Human Interest plan is less than half of the national average for investment expenses of 1.64%².

Myth: My employees won’t use it

In fact, uptake rates are high when employees have access to a retirement savings plan. Among customers of Human Interest retirement plans, 70% of eligible employees participate, up to 93% for customers that offer automatic enrollment and an employer match. To encourage participation, nearly three in four plans are now opting to automatically enroll employees (and instead present the option to opt out).

Myth #4: I can’t afford the match

Fact is, an employer match is entirely optional. You can always decide to add this feature later, or you can elect to offer a partial match. For example, you could offer 50% of what your employees contribute up to a certain percentage.

But Why They Should

There has never been a better time to start a 401(k) for your company. Small business owners may be concerned about the ROI from offering a retirement plan but, in fact, they can get many benefits from offering a 401(k) or 403(b):

Employee retention and loyalty

Giving employees amazing benefits helps ensure they are happy, remain loyal to your company, and want to help you make it succeed. Three in four employers say a company-sponsored retirement plan increases employee loyalty and 88% of workers say a 401(k) is a must-have when they’re looking for a new job.

Retirement benefits are increasingly valued by employees

The Affordable Care Act may be having ripple effects on your benefits plans. In fact, a study revealed that 43% of small business owners were planning to increase contributions to their company’s 401(k) plan because the Affordable Care Act has made health benefits less attractive to employees.

Technology is making it easier than ever

For firms without dedicated HR or personnel to oversee the day-to-day management of a retirement plan, no problem! The technology available through modern 401(k) providers helps solve several of the problems of the past, like dealing with time-consuming paperwork. We help by automatically syncing with your company’s payroll, making it easy for employees to sign up, handling compliance requirements, and more.

Save for your own future

Another reason to start a retirement savings plan is you. An American Express Survey found that 60% of small business owners were not saving the money they needed for retirement. In fact, 34% said they don’t have a retirement savings plan at all. Employers may be eligible to make larger contributions than the typical annual limit stipulated by the IRS.

Tax benefits

Opening and contributing to an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan can incur tax benefits for both employees and employers: Employees may get tax benefits for saving for their future using a 401(k) because contributions are made and grow tax-free until retirement. Employers may also be eligible for up to $1,500 in tax credits for setting up a new plan.

Finding the Right Plan for Your Small or Medium-Sized Business

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all 401(k) plan. Your needs may vary based on the size of your organization as well as your specific goal, e.g. to maximize owner contributions at the lowest cost, to avoid nondiscrimination testing, to help lower-paid employees save for their future, etc.).

Whatever your need, our customers work with our implementation management team to customize the retirement plan design. We offer Traditional and Roth 401(k)s, 403(b)s, safe harbor plans, and profit-sharing plans. Employers can customize matching and vesting options.

To vet a provider, follow the steps below or download our provider comparison tool to help you!

1. Find a plan administrator – preferably, one that takes care of automated payroll deductions, monitors and tests for IRS compliance, has affordable fees, and more.

2. Sign up with the service, – connect your payroll, and fill out the necessary paperwork to make sure your company is properly set up with the 401(k) plan documents.

3. Encourage your employees to start participating! After all – you only want a benefit if your employees will use it. Every eligible employee can select his or her own contribution amount, and some companies even allow for selecting specific funds in which to invest. *Zenefits currently works with more than 400,000 employees at 11,000 small and medium-sized businesses and nonprofits across the country. *Don’t work with Zenefits? We also offer integrations with 15 other payroll providers.