Vol.14, August 2026

August Benefits Rundown: 401(k) compliance audits + retirement income

Graphic for Mindy’s Benefits Rundown August 2026 issue with a "Play Now" button.(opens in a new tab)

Back-to-school season always brings back memories of how exciting a new school year felt when I was young. It can be harder to hold onto that sense of excitement as we get older, but there’s still plenty of joy to find in the things we do and the people we do them with. For those of us in benefits, open enrollment is a good example. It’s a busy season, but it’s also an opportunity to work alongside good colleagues, collaborate with vendors and departments we may not interact with every day, and do meaningful work that employees genuinely appreciate.

As we head into this back-to-school and open enrollment season, I hope we can all find a little of that childhood magic in the world around us.

‘Til next time,

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Mindy Zatto, FSA, EA, FCA, MAAA, MSPA
Founding Principal, SBA

This Month at SBA

A quick look at what’s new, noteworthy, or just plain useful from our team.

Conducting a 401(k) compliance audit after integrating 1,100 acquired employees for a pest control industry client, featuring a pest control technician treating a home exterior.

Case study: 401(k) compliance audit

When a global pest control company folded 1,100 newly acquired employees into its 401(k) plan, an internal analyst spotted delayed deferral elections and mismatched employer match calculations. Leadership fixed the obvious errors fast, then brought in SBA to determine how far the problem actually reached. SBA reviewed contribution and compensation data pay period by pay period across every transitioned employee, uncovering errors running in both directions and correcting all of them under IRS self-correction guidelines, without ever triggering a formal correction program.
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From the archives: Creating lifetime income in retirement

As more employees approach retirement with savings concentrated in defined contribution plans, the question of how to turn those accumulated balances into sustainable lifetime income continues to challenge plan sponsors and participants. In this Employee Benefit News conversation, SBA Principal Mindy Zatto and 401(k) pioneer Ted Benna discuss the growing focus on decumulation, the need for better participant education, and the evolving options for generating income throughout retirement. Originally published in 2022, the conversation remains especially relevant as the industry continues to explore how retirement plans can better support participants beyond the accumulation years.
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Ask the Principals

Our leadership team tackles tough questions from plan sponsors like you.

Close-up of hands holding an open, lined spiral notebook and a pen at a wooden desk.(opens in a new tab)
A

Why is time away from work so difficult to administer—and what can employers do to make it easier?

A: It’s more complex than it looks. Time away from work often requires coordination across HR, payroll, benefits, legal, managers, and third-party administrators, all while navigating regulatory requirements such as FMLA and USERRA. On top of that, these situations frequently involve sensitive employee circumstances, making accuracy, consistency and communication especially important.

What makes leave administration challenging is not just the number of moving parts, but the need to manage them consistently across situations that are often unfamiliar to most employees. For most employees, a leave of absence is a once-in-a-career event. They may be dealing with a serious health condition, caring for a family member, welcoming a child, or fulfilling military obligations. At the same time, questions about pay, benefits, job protection, and return-to-work expectations can have significant financial and personal consequences.

Employers must ensure that eligibility determinations, approvals, communications, payroll actions, benefit elections, and return-to-work processes are handled correctly every time, regardless of who is involved. The best way to make time away from work easier to manage is to step back and look at the entire process rather than treating each leave type or administrative task separately. That includes establishing clear policies, documenting procedures, defining ownership across internal teams and external partners, and creating a consistent framework for managing leave requests from start to finish.

Communication also plays a critical role. Employees need clear expectations about what steps come next, what information they must provide, when decisions will be made, whether they will be paid, how their benefits may be affected, and what to expect when they return to work. When processes are coordinated and expectations are clearly communicated, administration becomes more predictable, compliance risks are reduced, and the participant experience improves.

SBA helps plan sponsors take this broader view by assessing existing processes, identifying gaps, clarifying responsibilities, and implementing practical improvements that make time away from work programs more coordinated, efficient, and manageable day to day.

Tags: benefits administration, outsourcing, plan management
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Recommended Reading

Each month, the SBA team curates a selection of standout articles from across the employee benefits landscape. Here’s what caught our attention this month:

Bonus read: We inadvertently shared the wrong link to this article in last month’s Rundown. It’s worth another look, so we’re sharing it again here with the correct link: