Retirement plan specialist vs employee benefits supervisor

The differences between retirement plan specialists and employee benefits supervisors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a retirement plan specialist and an employee benefits supervisor. Additionally, a retirement plan specialist has an average salary of $60,611, which is higher than the $50,372 average annual salary of an employee benefits supervisor.

The top three skills for a retirement plan specialist include life insurance, financial products and FINRA. The most important skills for an employee benefits supervisor are HR, payroll, and customer service.

Retirement plan specialist vs employee benefits supervisor overview

	Retirement Plan Specialist	Employee Benefits Supervisor
Yearly salary	$60,611	$50,372
Hourly rate	$29.14	$24.22
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	9,336	11,390
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	6	6

What does a retirement plan specialist do?

Retirement plan specialists are experts who plan out their client's financial needs for retirement. The specialist's design and implement savings, benefit, and pension programs for clients. They have to explain the complicated nature of compensation, investment, and retirement packages to employees clearly and concisely. They process retirement plans following company and federal regulations. Also, they often have a background in business or human resources, and they may choose to earn employee benefit certifications that may help with their career advancement.

What does an employee benefits supervisor do?

An Employee Benefits Supervisor supervises, trains, and completes performance reviews for the staff they manage. They develop and update procedure manuals, analyze, note down company operations, and interact with company vendors, staff, officials, members, and other entities. They oversee all open enrollment aspects with the help of employee wellness and communications or marketing staff. They also manage vendor performance, review service agreements, lead staff calls, meetings, and lead vendor calls.

Retirement plan specialist vs employee benefits supervisor salary

Retirement plan specialists and employee benefits supervisors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Retirement Plan Specialist	Employee Benefits Supervisor
Average salary	$60,611	$50,372
Salary range	Between $41,000 And $88,000	Between $32,000 And $77,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between retirement plan specialist and employee benefits supervisor education

There are a few differences between a retirement plan specialist and an employee benefits supervisor in terms of educational background:

	Retirement Plan Specialist	Employee Benefits Supervisor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Retirement plan specialist vs employee benefits supervisor demographics

Here are the differences between retirement plan specialists' and employee benefits supervisors' demographics:

	Retirement Plan Specialist	Employee Benefits Supervisor
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 54.4% Female, 45.6%	Male, 39.6% Female, 60.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 15.2% Asian, 7.8% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 7.1% White, 62.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between retirement plan specialist and employee benefits supervisor duties and responsibilities

Retirement plan specialist example responsibilities.

Generate sales leads for personal investments, annuities and plan sales.
Participate in establishing and testing pension plans on PeopleSoft to automate applicable calculations.
Call into the ADP payroll client base to cross-sell retirement products and work with payroll reps on joint sales.
Research and advise clients and attorneys on laws and regulations to comply with QDRO and federal guidelines.
Train staff on ASC software and provide office support, as needed, for issues and new training.
Assist in the planning, testing and conversion of the company's payroll system from GEAC to JD Edwards.

Employee benefits supervisor example responsibilities.

Manage and provides all lab requests, orders or results to patients or providers following HIPPA protocol.
Manage payroll deductions, responsible for monthly insurance premium payments, and coordinate/communicate annual open enrollment.
Team maintain excellent HIPAA compliance guideline standards for patient privacy.
Update communication materials including new hire packets and HIPAA training.
Assist in developing HIPPA training and processes, ensuring organizational compliance.
Administer FMLA and workers compensation programs for both domestic and international employees.

Retirement plan specialist vs employee benefits supervisor skills

Common retirement plan specialist skills

Life Insurance, 14%
Financial Products, 6%
FINRA, 6%
ERISA, 6%
Retirement Accounts, 6%
Plan Design, 5%

Common employee benefits supervisor skills

HR, 10%
Payroll, 8%
Customer Service, 8%
HRIS, 7%
Cobra, 6%
HIPAA, 6%

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Retirement Plan Specialist
Retirement Plan Specialist vs Employee Benefits Supervisor

Updated January 8, 2025

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