While employers with defined benefit plans have experienced the most immediate consequences of the financial crisis, those with defined contribution plans may also be facing a problem that is far greater than they realize, according to research on retirement plans.

In its recent white paper, "Building pensions for the future," AEGON Global Pensions, an international pension provider, acknowledges that while many companies have turned to DC plans as an effective way to mitigate risk, improvements need to be made to the plans if they are to provide adequate retirement income to workers.

DC plan sponsors need to find ways to help plan members save more, increase participation in their plans, increase contribution levels and encourage plan members to begin saving earlier.

The study offers the following 10 guidelines for building better retirement plans:

1. Be careful what you promise.  Legislation and regulation often stipulate the way DB promises are made. Wherever you can, find a way to moderate the promises implicit in a DB plan.

2. Use de-risking mechanisms. The market provides a variety of mechanisms that trustees and sponsors of DB plans can use to effectively mitigate risk.

3. Save more. In DC plans, the first priority should be to ensure that members start saving early and save enough. Sponsors, trustees and legislators should introduce appropriate mechanisms to enable this

4. Invest better. DC investment strategies can be improved by offering a suitable degree of choice, well-defined life cycle strategies and guarantees, where appropriate.

5. Improve the payout phase. Improvements need to be made in the way that the payout phase in DC plans matches retiree needs, with alignment between the accumulation phase and payout phase.

6. Communicate and educate. Plan members require expert assistance and advice to be able to make informed decisions on how to best manage their DC assets.

7. Ensure effective delivery. Make sure proper processes are in place to run your pensions well. Outsource where appropriate.

8. Be engaged. Although plan sponsors may decide to remove risk from the balance sheet and outsource specific tasks to providers, sponsor engagement remains critically important to a successful pension strategy.

9. Exploit cross-border opportunities. Increasingly, multinational companies are exploring opportunities to benefit from their global reach.

10. Plan for change. Providing pensions is an ever-changing field. Develop strategies that are flexible and adaptable to change.