PLANSPONSOR - April/May 2018 - 32

Doubling Down on Plan Design
On the ground, the Retire Ready campaign
influences the behavior of the employer
and the employees alike. Notably, the plan
undergoes an independent third-party
fee review quarterly, which proactively
measures the value being received by the
plan and employees versus the fees being
charged.
The committee also progressively
monitors asset allocations across the
employee base-leveraging tools from
Principal Financial, the recordkeeper-
looking out for employees who are clearly
invested outside of the typical recommended
allocation based on their age,
salary and savings rate. If and when such
a situation is identified, the firms reach
out to make sure the employee is informed
and comfortable with his choices.
Supplementing these efforts, Nu Skin
has " directly confronted the challenge
of revenue sharing, " as Schurter puts it,
and has in recent years moved to a flat-fee
arrangement for recordkeeping. Asked
whether this was a pet project of the
committee, or if instead it was something
participants were clamoring for, Schurter
points firmly to the former.
" Modernizing and streamlining the
cost structure of the plan is something
that dedicated committees want to do,
because they know it is the right thing,
even if participants aren't pushing for
it and even if they might not even fully
understand what we're talking about, "
Schurter says. " Having the third party
come to us periodically and demonstrate
for us what the latest best practices are has
been very beneficial, in this respect. "
Wood and Schurter say Nu Skin
is particularly proud of the numerical
performance of its retirement plan,
given that more than one-third of the
Corporate >$100mm - $800mm Finalists
Golder Associates, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia
The engineers and scientists at Golder Associates, Inc., provide consulting, design and
construction services in the specialized area of earth and environment. Over the last
five years, Golder has made key changes to modernize and streamline its retirement
plan: Participation has increased from 85% to 96%; the average deferral for participating
employees increased from 6.2% to 9.2%; participants using the target-date fund
(TDF) investment default increased from 57% to 89%; and the average account balance
doubled, from $77,208 to $150,688.
Great River Energy Maple Grove, Minnesota
An electric cooperative, Great River Energy has a plan participation rate of 98%, despite
the absence of automatic enrollment. Plan officials have achieved this success by communicating
with participants about the integrity and high standards of the plan. In addition,
the plan sponsor contributes, annually, 6% of their earnings into the plan, and participants
get a match of 100% on the first 5% they contribute.
Southeastern Freight Lines, Inc. Lexington, South Carolina
Southeastern Freight Lines, Inc., a privately owned American lighter-than-load (LTL) trucking
company, has adopted a variety of impressive retirement plan improvement initiatives in
the past few years, including devoting significant time and resources to reconsidering " the
distribution question. " The company was one of the earliest adopters of T. Rowe Price's
Retirement Income Manager, which helps participants determine exactly how much income
they will need in retirement and then create a specific drawdown strategy for their savings.
Read the full finalist profiles on plansponsor.com/PSOY2018.
participating employees are part-timers.
And most of this part-time group are
college students staffing call centers or
warehouse facilities.
" The initial reaction from many of
these folks upon hire is, 'Why would I
want to save for something that's as far
away as retirement?' " Schurter observes.
" But through aggressive communications
upfront, we impart to them the reality that
they can't afford not to start saving right
now. We retain so many of these people
in the plan, and I think that speaks to the
strong design. "
The Next Step
Most recently the company has turned its
attention to helping participants continue
to make the most of the plan when they
have actually reached and have entered
retirement.
" We've had experts in to talk about
Medicare benefits, Social Security, health
care benefits and more, " Schurter says.
" We've also brought in speakers to help
employees who are getting ready to make
the transition into retirement [work] out
their income sources. Our employees
have given such strong feedback on this
type of education; we absolutely recommend
it to other employers. "
" Retirement readiness is part of how
we have to think about our employees, "
Wood says, agreeing that this is a bottom
line issue for any company. " Our desire is
that our employees come and work for us
for a long period of time-which means
we are the company primarily responsible
for their career as well as retirement. "
He encourages other executives to
" think beyond the days the employee is
at our company " and make benefits decisions
accordingly. " True employee wellbeing
consists of physical and emotional
as well as financial factors, and all have
both present and future consequences, "
Wood concludes. " We have tried to
broaden our view and will continue to
find ways to make a positive difference in
each of these areas of well-being. "
-John Manganaro
32 PLANSPONSOR.com April-May 2018

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