By Jim Kehr, Director of Business Development at Conrad Siegel              

A feature piece from our Fall 2025 issue of the Lancaster Thriving Publication

Small businesses across Central Pennsylvania are facing a familiar challenge: attracting and keeping good people in a competitive labor market. Higher wages are one answer, but employees today expect more, especially when it comes to benefits.

Benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, flexible work arrangements, and parental leave are becoming more and more common in the workplace. For many organizations, keeping up with these evolving expectations can feel overwhelming. Each new benefit adds cost and complexity which means tough decisions about where to invest limited resources.

There has to be a Better Way

Traditional benefit plan structures can often put too much strain on local businesses. They can be costly, complex, and difficult to manage. To truly support organizations of all sizes and across every industry, providers need to think differently and create more flexible, accessible solutions.

Zooming in on Retirement Benefits

A retirement plan may seem like a standard benefit, but these plans have been out of reach for many organizations for a long time. In fact, approximately 44% of the state’s private-sector employees lack access to a retirement plan at work, according to research by AARP. That’s nearly two million people!

Why it’s Important

Most people save for retirement through their workplace. It’s convenient and makes saving easy. When an organization does not offer a plan, that can limit employees’ options for saving and create barriers to retirement.

Compounding the problem, our state (and country) are in a retirement savings crisis. Due to a growing population that is ready to retire coupled with poor savings habits, many experts believe that a large part of the population will lack the resources to live comfortably after they stop working.

From a business standpoint, the IRS offers several tax breaks for small business start-up plans, which can be very helpful. These tax breaks essentially serve as an incentive for small businesses to start a plan.

Why Aren’t Plans Offered?

As to why many small businesses are not offering retirement plans, most owners are not aware of the options available to them. Many believe that their business is too small to qualify for a plan. Others believe that plans are too expensive to start and take too much time to manage.

While these objections can be true in some cases, the retirement industry has come a long way in increasing retirement plan availability.

There are Options

While many organizations might believe a retirement plan isn’t a viable option, there are actually opportunities available, and lawmakers continue to look for new solutions.

When most people think about retirement plans, they think about traditional 401(k) plans. While these can make sense for some smaller organizations, there are also SIMPLE IRAs and SEP IRAs. IRAs can be a good fit for some smaller employers, but also have drawbacks and are not as flexible as 401(k) plans.

A New Retirement Plan Option for Central PA Businesses

The Central PA 401(k) by Conrad Siegel was launched in 2022 as the first locally developed Pooled Employer Plan (PEP). When Congress passed the SECURE Act in 2019, it paved the way for these PEPs as a new retirement saving vehicle for employers.

PEPs essentially allow employers to join forces with other organizations to participate in a single retirement plan rather than needing to start their own plans. The key difference from other multiemployer plans is that unrelated organizations of any size or industry can join a PEP.

The Central PA 401(k) is a turnkey retirement plan, fully managed by retirement experts at Conrad Siegel. Essential duties are offloaded to save time for business owners and executives.

There are also typically cost benefits since the plan is spread across multiple employers.

The Central PA 401(k) is also offered through the Lancaster Chamber’s BizCorp Preferred Partner Program.

For organizations interested in offering a new, innovative retirement program for their people, visit centralpa401k.com.

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