PLANSPONSOR - November - December 2023 - 40

PLAN PROFILE | A 2018 PLAN SPONSOR OF THE YEAR
A Focus on Wellness
R
ick Hendrick, chairman and
CEO of Hendrick Automotive
Group, in Charlotte, North
Carolina, turned his passion for automobiles
into business ventures that
include professional auto racing and
automotive retail establishments. In
2018, Hendrick Motorsports, the racing
side of the business, won Plan
Sponsor of the Year.
Andrea Darrow, Hendrick's
director of retirement and financial
wellness, administers separate
401(k) plans for the two Hendrick
divisions. " As you can guess, "
Darrow says, " Hendrick Automotive
Group, which has multiple automotive
dealerships across the country, is
a very different environment than a
racing team. "
The automotive group, which
began in 1976, created a 401(k) plan
in 1992 that also included the motorsports
division. To attract and retain
talented workers in the racing field,
in 1998, the company spun off the
Hendrick Motorsports plan, allowing for its customization. The
result was that the Motorsports plan takes a far different approach
than does the broader Hendrick Automotive Group plan.
Since the Plan Sponsor of the Year recognition, the
Andrea Darrow, director, retirement and financial
wellness, Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports, 2018 winner Corporate 401(k) >$50mm - $100mm
previously 10%. Plan loans are still
available just one at a time.
The 623 employees of the division-whose
include
Kyle Larson,
NASCAR drivers
in car No.
5, Chase Elliott, in car No. 9,
William Byron, in car No. 24, and
Alex Bowman, in car No. 48-just
celebrated its 300th cup series win.
The workforce spans a wide
range of jobs, from the builders
and fabricators of the race cars, up
to the Ph.D.-level engineers who
design them.
In partnership with Compass
Financial Partners, Hendrick
Motorsports has made a conscious
effort to provide plan participants
with access to financial wellness as
an additional benefit.
" We did a survey to find
out what was on the minds of
employees, " Darrow says. " Based
on the results, Compass came in
and held a class to discuss some of
the feedback. "
The feedback showed that Hendrick Motorsports employees
Motorsports plan's design has seen more modifications. The
average deferral rate has increased to 11% from 8.71%, likely
because the default rate moved to 6% from 4%, Darrow says.
Automatic escalation is 2% per year, to a maximum of 14%,
PLAN SNAPSHOT
PLAN SPONSOR: Hendrick Automotive Group, Charlotte, North Carolina
PLAN ASSETS: $104 million
PARTICIPANTS: 588
PARTICIPATION RATE: 94%
AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 11%
DEFAULT DEFERRAL RATE: 6%
EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION: 33.3% up to 9% of pay
were concerned about having too little money saved for retirement.
To better prepare themselves, they noted they would like
to attend classes to learn about budgeting, purchasing a home
and making better financial decisions. Darrow says employees
who attended the Compass class expressed interest in one-onone
meetings with the plan's investment adviser and in learning
from both live and prerecorded workshops.
According to Kathleen Kelly, founding and managing
partner in Compass, a Marsh & McLennan Agency company,
" Recent initiatives have included changing the lens through
which participants see the Hendrick Motorsports LLC 401(k)
Plan, from a present-day savings account to a long-term investment
for future consumption, focused on introducing elements
to consider when entering the retirement red zone. Paired with
the guidance that was deployed in 2022 about embracing market
volatility, Medicare and Social Security retirement benefits,
our ultimate objective was to empower the employees to make
informed decisions. " -Judy Faust Hartnett
40 PLANSPONSOR.COM November - December 2023
Art by Chris Buzelli
http://www.PLANSPONSOR.COM
PLANSPONSOR - November - December 2023

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