The benefits of sound professional financial advice to individuals and families are well documented, but workplace retirement plan advisors may be failing to demonstrate their value.

According to a recent study by Springfield, Mass.-based MassMutual Retirement Services, advisors to 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans often miss an opportunity to help sponsors and participants during periodic plan reviews.

Plan sponsors surveyed in the 2016 MassMutual Retirement Plan Review Study say that their advisors aren’t reviewing the effectiveness of workplace retirement savings as often as they should. When reviews do occur, plan sponsors think that their advisors aren’t addressing the most important issues.

“This points to a missed opportunity on the part of both advisors and sponsors,” said Tom Foster Jr., practice management leader for MassMutual Retirement Services in prepared comments. “We need to focus more on the effectiveness of the retirement plan and educational programs to help ensure that working Americans are saving enough to retire on their own terms.”

According to the study, more than half of the sponsors, 57 percent, said they would like advisors to review their retirement plans semiannually or more often, something that 44 percent of sponsors say is currently taking place.

Sponsors who rely on an advisor typically review their retirement plans more often than sponsors who do not use an advisor, according to MassMutual.

MassMutual recommends that plan reviews begin with determining whether participants are saving enough for retirement, however, the study showed that only one-in-four sponsors are asking those questions, 27 percent of plans reviewed by an advisor, and 25 percent of those not reviewed by an advisor.

Instead, plan advisors are prioritizing participant satisfaction and investment performance during reviews, while sponsors without an advisor are prioritizing fees and costs.

The study found that reviews also largely fail to consider the effectiveness of advice and education to participants, overall participation rate and the time and effort it takes to administer the plan, regardless of whether an advisor is involved.

For the study, MassMutual polled 565 plan sponsors, 449 who worked with an advisor and 116 who did not, in 2015. The study also used information culled from two focus groups.