PLANSPONSOR - February - March 2022 - 40

PLAN PROFILE
Personalized Support
A concierge-style wellness program is introduced to engage participants
A
rvest Bank, headquartered
in Bentonville, Arkansas,
is a regional bank, with
223 branches spanning 14 locally
managed markets, in Arkansas,
Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. The
company employs over 6,500 associates,
some of whom work remotely, in
support service areas, in over 17 states.
Arvest was recently named
by Newsweek magazine as one of
America's " Most Loved Workplaces, "
a recognition given for employees'
happiness and satisfaction with their
jobs. The bank also made Forbes
magazine's list of America's Best
Large Employers 2022.
Through the pandemic, benefits
have grown, helping employees
stay engaged with the company.
Via targeted communications, the
sponsor promoted its mobile app,
which kept people contributing to
the plan and discouraged pandemicrelated
withdrawals. It also instituted
parental leave, upped its initial pay rate and enhanced voluntary
benefits, informing employees about these changes with communications
campaigns and education.
" The bank is always seeking opportunities to better its retirement
plan, [plus] opportunities to help its workforce with wellness
programs beyond the 401(k), " says Michelle Van Schenck,
SNAPSHOT
PLAN SPONSOR: Arvest Bank, Bentonville, Arkansas
KEY PLAYER: Michelle Van Schenck, executive director, total rewards
PLAN: 401(k)
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 6,500
PARTICIPATION RATE: 93%
AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 6%
TOTAL PLAN ASSETS: $749,930,126
executive director, total rewards for
the bank. The pandemic underscored
the value of the bank being proactive,
she notes.
With the support of recordkeeper
Voya Financial and plan adviser
Prospera Financial Services, beginning
this January 1, Arvest lowered
the age requirement for plan eligibility
from 21 to 18; increased the automatic
enrollment rate from 3% to 6%;
and raised the automatic escalation
maximum deferral from 6% to 10%.
As of last year's fourth quarter,
participation in the 401(k) plan was at
93%, up from 87% in 2018-notably,
during two pandemic years.
In addition, it responded to
Michelle Van Schenck, executive director,
total rewards, Arvest Bank
employees' broader financial wellness
needs and growing interest in
broad mental health benefits. " The
pandemic leveled the playing field,
opening everyone's eyes and removing
some of the stigma of talking about
depression or anxiety in the world we
live in, " Van Schenck says. " Women in the workforce was another
area that we saw dramatically affected by the pandemic. "
Stats show that women left the workforce because child-care
and elder-care responsibilities naturally fell on them. Over 50%
of Arvest's workforce is female. " We asked, how could we reduce
some of that loss of talent? " she says. " And how could we offer
some benefits to recruit those individuals back to work at Arvest? "
The answer it found was Wellthy, a child-care and caregiving
program that provides support and resources to help individuals
with disabilities or special needs and family caregivers. The
program matches an employee with a dedicated care coordinator-
many having a background in social work-who will customize
the services. The coordinators guide employees through a care
plan, advocate for loved ones and tackle tasks across medical,
in-home, financial, legal, housing, social and emotional needs.
" In researching tools and support through Voya's service
offering, Wellthy seemed like that perfect solution to enable
employees to stay focused on work and care for their loved
ones-and not just the logistical and administrative things, " Van
Schenck says. -Judy Faust Hartnett
40 PLANSPONSOR.COM February - March 2022
Art by Chris Buzelli
http://www.PLANSPONSOR.COM
PLANSPONSOR - February - March 2022

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