Retirement and Employee Investment Planning Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Compensation and Benefits Managers, HR Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CB-021

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with employee benefits, payroll, HR operations, reward administration or finance reporting.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Retirement plans are a major element of total reward, yet employees often struggle to judge whether contributions, investment choices and expected retirement income are sufficient. Employers must balance affordability, employee participation, fiduciary responsibilities, provider oversight and clear communication. Poorly designed arrangements can create retirement inadequacy, low participation, administrative errors, avoidable fees and employee relations concerns.

This course examines how HR, reward, benefits and finance professionals design, govern and improve retirement and employee investment arrangements. Participants assess defined benefit, defined contribution and hybrid plans; test contribution adequacy; interpret investment risk and return; evaluate default funds; monitor managers and providers; and communicate retirement choices without crossing into regulated personal advice. The course also addresses workforce segmentation, automatic enrolment, employer matching, vesting, financial wellbeing communications, governance controls and retirement readiness reporting.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with cases based on employer-sponsored retirement plans, pension committees, payroll data and investment-provider reports. Participants work through contribution and retirement-income projections, governance decisions, investment monitoring evidence and employee communication scenarios. They leave with a retirement programme diagnostic, contribution adequacy model, investment policy statement outline, governance calendar, provider scorecard and 90-day improvement plan. The course is delivered over five days, 08:30–16:30, in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, and includes a certificate of completion.

It is particularly suited to professionals responsible for compensation, benefits, pension administration, reward governance, finance oversight or employee financial wellbeing.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess retirement plan adequacy using replacement ratios, contribution data and retirement-income projections
  • Compare defined benefit, defined contribution and hybrid plan designs against workforce needs
  • Build a retirement governance calendar covering fiduciary decisions, delegations and review evidence
  • Evaluate employer matching, automatic enrolment and vesting rules using cost and participation analysis
  • Apply time-value-of-money and Monte Carlo methods to retirement savings scenarios
  • Draft an investment policy statement covering objectives, constraints, asset allocation and rebalancing
  • Monitor investment managers using benchmarks, performance attribution, fee analysis and watchlist criteria
  • Produce a 90-day retirement programme improvement plan with owners, measures and approval gates

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence discussing retirement adequacy with employees, providers and senior leaders
  • Practical ability to test matching formulas and automatic enrolment proposals
  • Stronger judgement when reviewing investment options, fees and manager performance
  • Clearer understanding of fiduciary evidence, committee records and governance responsibilities
  • Reusable planning materials for improving an employer-sponsored retirement programme

For your organisation

  • Better alignment between retirement benefits, workforce demographics and total reward spending
  • More defensible governance records for investment, provider and plan-design decisions
  • Earlier identification of low participation, inadequate savings and employee communication gaps
  • Improved oversight of investment fees, service levels and administrator performance
  • A prioritised improvement plan linking retirement outcomes to accountable owners

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can assess how retirement benefits contribute to employee financial security and total reward.

  • Retirement income gap calculated from target replacement ratios and projected savings
  • Defined benefit, defined contribution and hybrid plan obligations compared
  • State pensions, employer plans and personal savings mapped together
  • Longevity, inflation and sequence risk assessed using participant scenarios
  • Plan design choices linked to attraction, retention and workforce demographics
  • Employee value proposition assessed through retirement benefit adequacy measures

Participants can establish governance arrangements that evidence prudent retirement plan oversight.

  • Fiduciary duty, prudence and loyalty translated into governance responsibilities
  • Plan documents, trust deeds and policy rules reconciled
  • Governance calendars assign decisions, delegations, evidence and review dates
  • Conflicts-of-interest registers capture gifts, relationships, transactions and recusals
  • Data privacy controls protect beneficiary records and investment information
  • Audit trails document approvals, exceptions, minutes and corrective actions

Participants can use workforce and payroll data to identify retirement readiness gaps.

  • Workforce segmentation combines age, tenure, salary, savings and retirement intent
  • Contribution adequacy tested against replacement-ratio targets and affordability constraints
  • Eligibility, vesting and matching rules modelled using payroll data
  • Participation and opt-out rates analysed by employee population
  • Retirement readiness dashboards distinguish averages from distributional outcomes
  • Scenario assumptions documented for salary growth, inflation and investment returns

Participants can design retirement plan features that balance employee outcomes and employer cost.

  • Defined contribution plan features balanced against cost, adequacy and administration
  • Employer matching formulas tested for behavioural response and budget impact
  • Automatic enrolment, escalation and re-enrolment designed with opt-out protections
  • Vesting schedules evaluated against retention goals and employee fairness
  • Target-date funds, default pathways and lifecycle designs compared
  • Benefit harmonisation plans address mergers, legacy arrangements and workforce mobility

Participants can interpret the financial calculations underpinning retirement savings and income decisions.

  • Time value of money applied to contribution and retirement-income projections
  • Compound return, inflation and fee drag quantified over working lifetimes
  • Annuity, drawdown and lump-sum options compared using cash-flow models
  • Monte Carlo simulation interprets probability ranges rather than single forecasts
  • Sequence-of-returns risk illustrated through withdrawal timing and market declines
  • Funding ratios and actuarial assumptions interpreted for defined benefit plans

Participants can define investment objectives and assess suitable retirement investment strategies.

  • Investment policy statements define objectives, constraints, governance and rebalancing rules
  • Strategic asset allocation sets long-term weights across major asset classes
  • Modern Portfolio Theory connects expected return, volatility and correlation
  • Risk tolerance questionnaires separate capacity, attitude, time horizon and liquidity
  • Passive and active management compared through fees, tracking error and governance
  • Environmental, social and governance factors assessed within investment mandates

Participants can monitor investment managers, fees and performance against documented criteria.

  • Manager due diligence reviews mandate, team, process, fees and controls
  • Performance attribution separates allocation, selection and market effects
  • Benchmark selection matches asset class, mandate style and currency exposure
  • Rebalancing thresholds trigger disciplined trades after material market movements
  • Fee disclosures compare expense ratios, transaction costs and adviser charges
  • Watchlist procedures define escalation, remediation and manager termination criteria

Participants can communicate retirement benefits clearly while maintaining appropriate advice boundaries.

  • Plain-language benefit statements explain balances, contributions, fees and projected income
  • Financial wellbeing campaigns segment messages by life stage and savings behaviour
  • Choice architecture uses defaults, prompts and simplified decision pathways
  • Provider communications distinguish education from regulated financial advice
  • Disclosure timing supports informed decisions at enrolment, transfer and retirement
  • Accessibility checks address language, disability, digital access and financial literacy

Participants can identify and control operational risks affecting retirement plan members and employers.

  • Risk registers link investment, operational, conduct and provider risks
  • Cybersecurity controls protect member portals, payroll interfaces and account changes
  • Business continuity plans cover administrator failure, market disruption and payment delays
  • Complaint data identifies recurring service failures and vulnerable-member risks
  • Internal controls test contribution remittance, eligibility changes and beneficiary updates
  • Vendor scorecards monitor service levels, errors, recovery and reporting

Participants can prioritise retirement plan improvements and prepare an accountable implementation plan.

  • Retirement programme diagnostic prioritises adequacy, governance, investment and communication gaps
  • Stakeholder maps clarify responsibilities among HR, finance, trustees and providers
  • Implementation roadmaps sequence decisions, dependencies, owners and approval gates
  • Budget cases quantify employer cost, employee value and administrative savings
  • Success measures track participation, savings rates, readiness and service quality
  • 90-day action plans assign first steps, evidence and review meetings

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Retirement programme diagnostic template
  2. Contribution adequacy and replacement-ratio model
  3. Investment policy statement outline
  4. Retirement governance calendar
  5. Provider due diligence scorecard
  6. 90-day retirement improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Compensation and Benefits Managers — responsible for retirement plan design, cost and employee value
  • HR Managers — accountable for benefit administration, employee communication and workforce retention
  • Reward Specialists — analysing pension provisions within total reward programmes
  • Pension and Benefits Administrators — managing enrolment, contributions, records and provider coordination
  • Finance Managers — overseeing employer costs, funding exposure and investment governance
  • Trustees and Pension Committee Members — making documented fiduciary and provider oversight decisions

Skills and tools covered

Retirement plan designContribution adequacy analysisInvestment governanceAsset allocation analysisProvider performance monitoringEmployee retirement communication

Tools and standards

Modern Portfolio Theory, Monte Carlo simulation, Investment policy statement, Performance attribution

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish retirement, investment and governance concepts, followed by case work using plan data, provider reports and employee scenarios. Group exercises examine contribution design, retirement-income projections, default investment choices and committee decisions. Simulations cover provider review meetings, governance escalation and employee communications. Participants apply the methods to a structured retirement programme diagnostic and convert findings into an implementation plan relevant to their employer or client setting.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with employee benefits, payroll, HR operations, reward administration or finance reporting. They should be comfortable reading basic plan documents, contribution schedules and spreadsheet-based calculations. Some experience of pension providers, investment reports or benefits communication is useful but not essential. No actuarial qualification, investment licence, advanced financial modelling background or prior trustee experience is required. The course explains core investment concepts before applying them to retirement plan decisions. It does not qualify participants to provide regulated personal investment advice.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic familiarity with HR benefits, payroll, reward, finance reporting or pension administration. No actuarial qualification, investment licence or advanced mathematics background is required.

Participants may bring non-confidential examples of their retirement plan structure, provider reports, contribution schedules or employee communications. The course materials include all required templates and calculation examples.

It is designed for compensation and benefits professionals, HR managers, reward specialists, pension administrators, finance managers and pension committee members. It is most useful for people involved in employer-sponsored retirement arrangements rather than personal wealth management.

This course focuses on employer retirement plans, workforce outcomes, plan governance, investment oversight and benefit communication. It does not train participants to give regulated personal investment recommendations to individual employees.

Participants can review contribution adequacy, strengthen committee records, assess provider performance and improve retirement communications. The diagnostic and 90-day plan provide a starting structure for discussions with HR, finance, trustees and providers.

The five days contain approximately 32.5 contact hours, generally from 08:30 to 16:30. Time is divided between retirement plan design, investment concepts, governance, provider monitoring, communications, risk controls and implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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