A recent Harvard Business Review article indicates that over the past four decades, changes prompted by corporate America have placed workers and the broader American society at risk. Here’s what authors Teresa Ghilarducci and Tony James mean. The shift from defined benefit pension plans to employee-directed contribution 401K plans represents a major driver of America’s impending retirement crisis. Beginning during the 1980s, this shift in retirement benefits helped companies reduce their retirement liabilities and better meet their quarterly financial targets.