PLANSPONSOR - July - August 2023 - 27

Corporate DC >$1b
American Express
New York, New York
to its retirement plan. Among the many design
changes it made to its 401(k) plan in recent years,
a highly significant one is the move from a discretionary,
profit-sharing contribution to an annual,
fixed-rate
contribution with tiered benefits.
" Given the broad economic climate, we wanted
to ensure we were providing our colleagues with
the extra support they may need, especially those
in more junior roles, " Kontje says.
Under the new plan design, lower-paid
participants who contribute 6% will have that
matched 100%, besides receiving a 3% fixed
contribution, for a total of 15% saved.
That
special
Barbara Kontje, director of retirement and smart saving
Plan Snapshot
PLAN TYPE AND SIZE: 401(k); $6.34b
PARTICIPANTS AND PARTICIPATION RATE: 39,200; 92%
DEFERRAL RATE: 6% default; 8.6% average
EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION: 100% of 6%, 3% nonelective
WHILE many plan sponsors are now determining
how to offer plan access to some
part-time workers, as required under 2022's
Setting Every Community Up for Retirement
Enhancement 2.0 Act-American Express has
had such provisions in place for decades.
Since the 1990s, Amex has offered
employees who work at least 20 hours per week
the opportunity to participate in the plan on the
same terms as full-time employees.
" At Amex, supporting all colleagues' overall
critical, "
well-being is
says Barbara Kontje,
director of retirement and smart saving, at the
company's New York City headquarters. " By
providing the opportunity to enroll in the 401(k)
as well as medical and dental benefits for fulland
part-time participants, we accomplish that. "
The company continually looks for other
ways to stay ahead of the curve when it comes
attention
to
lower-paid
workers is a prime example of what makes the
401(k) plan such a standout, says Craig Morgan,
director of retirement at WTW, who works with
Amex on the plan. The changes were implemented
after the sponsor analyzed data on
employee engagement and contribution rates.
" They recognized in the data that there
was a gap [in saving rates for lower-paid
workers], and they saw the opportunity to
address it through a fairly straightforward
design change, " Morgan says, noting that the
company will look for other possible gaps.
Other recent changes to the plan have
switching
included
administrators to one
that can provide the " super Roth " feature, by
which after-tax contributions are automatically
converted into Roth contributions each
payroll period. The plan also boosted its automatic
enrollment deferral rate from 3% to 6%.
Contributions automatically increase 1% per
year up to 10%.
Before
implementing
such
changes,
Kontje says, the company spends time listening
to employees, through town halls and other
events, and digging into data to see how participants
engage with current benefits and what
improvements might make sense.
" Data can inform targeted communications
to employees, which drives better outcomes,
ultimately ensuring that our offerings meet
their needs, " she adds. -Beth Braverman
" Given
the broad
economic
climate,
we wanted
to ensure
we were
providing our
colleagues
with the
extra
support they
may need,
especially
those in more
junior roles. "
Finalists
Empower
Greenwood Village, Colorado
Lincoln Financial Group
Radnor, Pennsylvania
Southwest Airlines Pilots
Association
Dallas, Texas
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