PLANSPONSOR - June/July 2021 - 16

BEST PRACTICES | 2021 PLAN SPONSOR OF THE YEAR WINNERS
Corporate 401(k) >$50mm - $150mm
Members 1st Federal Credit Union
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
C
ultural and rebranding efforts at Members
1st Federal Credit Union (FCU) a few years
ago inspired the company to rethink its retirement
plan.
What this meant was terminating FCU's
long-standing defined benefit (DB) plan and
moving to a defined contribution (DC) plan.
But the organization, whose home offices are in
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, wanted to make
sure its employees stayed well-provided-for. The
resulting plan gives its 1,000 participants a
200% match of up to 5% of pay, automatically
enrolls participants at 5% and increases their
saving rate by 1% a year, up to 10%.
" As a credit union, we're really focused
on our three-legged stool, and that's composed
of our associates, our community and our
members, " says Sara Kennedy, senior vice president
of associate experience at Members 1st.
Instead of describing its workers as
employees, the company calls them each other's
" associates " -a testament to how Members 1st
sees its people, says David Hinderstein, a senior
vice president in OneDigital's Retirement +
Wealth division, who has served as the credit
union's financial adviser for 10 years. " [Members
1st is] always looking for improvement, because
the better it can be for itself, the better it can be
for its associates and community, " he says.
When Members 1st underwent its retirement
program transition, in 2019, the focus was
on educating the associates about the termination
and about the changes the new 401(k) would
bring. But the planning for how to approach that
began 12 months earlier, in the summer of 2018.
" [We] started with these conversations
about plan design, communication, education
and engagement, and with a goal of making
sure our associates really understood the
change in their retirement benefits, " notes
Kennedy. " When participants are going through
a pension termination and they don't understand
what's happening, then that in itself is a
risk to their retirement goals. " To help ensure
16 PLANSPONSOR.COM June - July 2021
clarity, Members 1st involved several layers of
its leadership-all the way up to President and
CEO George Nahodil-to engage with its associates
during the transition. Six months before
the DB termination, in June 2019, the company
hosted a series of video meetings where Nahodil
announced what changes would occur in the
plan. He also facilitated group meetings with
the company's retirement planning manager
and longest-tenured staff. Later that same
month, all associates were invited to open-office
hours to speak with Nahodil and the benefits
team about the transition.
" He could explain what an annuity is, the
transition credits; he could talk about what
the timeline would look like, why we picked
Principal [Financial Group as recordkeeper],
why the decision was being made, " Kennedy
says. " To have the president and CEO that wellversed
about the process built the employees'
confidence about the change. "
When the time to choose an option for their
pension account had arrived, early last year, the
pandemic was already shuttering the workforce.
As the company went remote, Kennedy and her
team followed participant responses, to track
whether each associate had made an active decision
before the June 30 distribution date.
Lisa McCardell, a retirement planning
manager at Members 1st before she herself
retired last November, called each associate
who had not enrolled in the 401(k). " She personally
enrolled associates, " Kennedy recalls. " She
drove our engagement to less than 20 associates
not enrolled in the plan. "
The company leaned on OneDigital for
solutions to further increase engagement.
OneDigital had advised the plan committee
that an annual re-enrollment and increased
features could assist those not contributing to
the plan. Members 1st agreed, and one year
since the pension plan's termination, the 401(k)
has a participation rate of 98.6% and an average
deferral of 7.85%. -Amanda Umpierrez
Sara Kennedy,
Senior Vice President of
Associate Experience
" To have the
president
and CEO that
well-versed
about the
process built
the employees'
confidence
about the
change. "
Finalists
Barilla America
Northbrook, Illinois
Haldex Brake Products
Corp.
Kansas City, Missouri
More on PLANSPONSOR.com/
awards/2021-plan-sponsor-year
http://PLANSPONSOR.com/awards/2021-plan-sponsor-year http://PLANSPONSOR.com/awards/2021-plan-sponsor-year http://www.PLANSPONSOR.COM
PLANSPONSOR - June/July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANSPONSOR - June/July 2021
