PLANSPONSOR - August/September 2020 - 20

2020 PLAN SPONSOR OF THE YEAR WINNERS
Nonprofit DC <$500mm
Cobleskill Regional Hospital
Cobleskill, New York
A
focus on employees' wellness comes naturally
at Cobleskill Regional Hospital. This
goes beyond physical wellness and influences
the 403(b) plan's design and approach to educating
employees. " Retirement readiness and
financial wellness are woven into the fabric of
our culture, " says Christine Pirri, vice president,
nonclinical operations for the hospital.
Plan Design and Fee Changes
The plan has 93% participation, despite much of
the staff working in housekeeping, food service
and similar jobs. " Many employees are low-wage
earners, " Human Resources (HR) Manager
Carol Spaulding says. " Forty-three percent make
under $25 an hour. "
As a small rural facility in upstate New
York, Cobleskill Regional Hospital has limited
operational and financial resources to devote
to its plan. But in the past several years, the
sponsor has learned to optimize what it has
available.
Momentum for plan improvements began
building when Pirri joined the staff, six years
ago. " I want people, when they're ready to
retire, to have that option. " This benefits both
employee and employer, she says.
The plan added automatic enrollment last
year. To lessen anticipated resistance, yet still
have workers save enough that they could start
building an account, the sponsor chose a " sweetspot "
3% default deferral rate, Pirri says. The
plan also added automatic escalation.
" With the low initial auto-enroll rate and
1% auto-increase, we tell them, 'You won't
really notice it coming out of your paycheck,' "
Spaulding says.
Cobleskill also plans to do a re-enrollment
of nonparticipants every January 1, Pirri says.
In this way, the sponsor can engage any worker
whose circumstances have changed and could
now enroll in the plan.
These changes came after the plan moved
to " affiliate pricing " for its recordkeeping and
20 PLANSPONSOR.COM August - September 2020
investments, in 2018. " We're a smaller hospital,
and we have about 230 employees. But we're
part of a five-hospital network, " Pirri says. As
plan recordkeeper TIAA also works with a much
larger hospital in the system, Cobleskill negotiated
for the same investment lineup and fees.
" We now take advantage of that lower pricing for
our $8 million plan, " she says.
Cobleskill's 403(b) also moved to a flat, perparticipant
administrative fee, Pirri says. " We
use the lowest-cost share class available, with
zero revenue sharing. "
Participant Education
To motivate new employees to stay enrolled, they
are required to meet with a TIAA staff member,
Spaulding says. " They sometimes bring their
spouse or significant other, and information on
their other retirement accounts. "
All employees also are urged to meet
annually with plan adviser HANYS Benefit
Services (HBS) for an " annual financial wellness
checkup. " They are told to compare this to their
annual physical, Pirri says. While they are " a
little nervous " at the prospect of discussing their
retirement, she says, " my philosophy is, if we
keep exposing them to it, it becomes less scary. "
HBS visits the hospital two days a month,
for half-hour appointments, says Carol Idone,
vice president, consulting at HBS, in Rensselaer,
New York. First, the adviser covers basics such as
the participant's current deferral rate and investment
allocations; then the worker gets to ask his
own financial questions, Idone says.
" The biggest question they have is when
will they have enough to retire? " she says.
Many believe the plan is defined benefit (DB),
providing a guaranteed income. Once the adviser
explains that a defined contribution (DC) plan
makes them responsible for their retirement
outcome, " they're much more interested in 'How
can I make this work?' " she says.
Since the meetings started, a year ago April,
HBS has met with over 40% of the staff. -JW
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Christine Pirri, vice president
nonclinical operations, Cobleskill
Regional Hospital
While they are
" a little nervous "
at the prospect
of discussing
their retirement,
she says, " my
philosophy
is, if we keep
exposing them
to it, it becomes
less scary. "
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PLANSPONSOR - August/September 2020

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