PLANSPONSOR - April/May 2018 - 30

Corporate 401(k) >$100mm - $800mm
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc.
N
u Skin Enterprises, Inc., in Provo,
Utah, develops and distributes
anti-aging personal care products and
nutritional supplements. The company
operates in the direct selling channel,
utilizing person-to-person marketing and
other strategies to vend its wares.
Direct selling firms are typically not
associated with running an exceptional
retirement plan-but Nu Skin demonstrates
exactly what is possible when there
is corporate leadership buy-in to improve
retirement readiness.
Several years ago, the firm's CEO,
Ritch Wood, envisioned and implemented
a program called " Retire Ready " that
included not just 401(k) plan enhancements,
but also sizable annual budgets
for financial wellness programs and a
generous company profit-sharing scheme
" tied to corporate profitability, " he says. In
some years, the contribution to employee
accounts has been as high as 15% of salary,
though 10% is more usual, in addition to
enhanced matching contributions.
According to Elaine Schurter, benefits
manager, Retire Ready is a household
name among Nu Skin employees that
fosters a certain way of thinking about
retirement saving and personal financial
responsibility.
This is the result of concerted
communication efforts, tied to offerings
such as Dave Ramsey's SmartDollar
program; an annual financial fair encouraging
the use of retirement and general
financial planning tools; and one-on-one
investment planning opportunities for
every employee, delivered in partnership
with the company's independent adviser,
401k Advisors Intermountain.
A New Retirement Vision
Schurter credits Wood for providing the
vision for Retire Ready and gives kudos to
other leaders in the corporation for allowing
her and the human resources (HR) staff to
pour significant time and effort into maximizing
the benefits programming.
" As benefits manager, I so appreciate
the fact that I have support from the very
top down of this company, " Schurter says.
" I can tell you from experience, this buy-in
is critical to creating and maintaining a
high-functioning benefits program. So
many times in the benefits manager role,
you're coming up with what you think are
great ideas that will help employees, but
then you just have to sit back and hope
they will be approved by finance. "
As the company leadership focused
more and more on retirement readiness,
the committee worked with 401k Advisors
Intermountain to conduct an intensive
data gathering process, running each
individual employee through an analysis
to assess what amount of income that
person is on track to replace in retirement,
30 PLANSPONSOR.com April-May 2018 Art by Chris Buzelli
TOTAL PLAN ASSETS/PARTICIPANTS:
$158 million/1,723
PARTICIPATION RATE: 93.5%
AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 8%
DEFAULT DEFERRAL RATE: 6%
DEFAULT INVESTMENT: Principal LifeTime
Portfolio
AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT: Yes
AUTOMATIC ESCALATION: Yes
EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION: 100% on first
2% deferred, plus 50% on next 4%;
discretionary profit-sharing contribution
up to 10% of base salary
including with Social Security benefits.
Simply put, the replacement rates
were unsatisfactory, and this prompted
the committee to simulate various plan
design changes and examine the effect
of raising the replacement rates for the
employee base. According to plan officials,
the plan design optimization study
led to more informed decisions by the
committee and company executives-
and ultimately to the installation of plan
provisions that are still helping employees
improve their retirement outlook today.
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