PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2024 - 40

PLAN PROFILE | A 2024 PLAN SPONSOR OF THE YEAR
Helping Transient Workers Save
Wayne-Sanderson Farms, 2024 winner Corporate DC >$200mm - $500mm
P
oultry processing company
Wayne-Sanderson Farms,
with corporate offices in
Oakwood, Georgia, has about
24,000 employees. According to
its director of benefits, Christy
Freeman, on average, a near
100% turnover some years is not
uncommon. Most of the workers
are hourly, and they have varying
levels of technical skill and literacy,
with up to 36 different languages
being spoken throughout
the organization.
The company wanted to help
these employees save for retirement-especially
those
over
age
50. Because the workers are
" all in different places in life, "
Freeman says, " we felt this group
could benefit from additional data
points [being used for personalization]
to help improve overall
outcomes. " On consulting with its
adviser, OneDigital, the sponsor
added managed accounts,
and
access, either leaving the account
to possibly grow or transferring it
to another employer plan, she says.
Unless the worker, active or terminated,
opts out of the program, his
money stays invested.
Freeman admits having felt
anxious about the offering. " I felt
like we were making a decision
for our participants' future that
potentially they hadn't asked for. "
But when OneDigital showed
her statistics on the over-50 participants'
savings,
Freeman
says
she realized the accounts would
help them allocate their assets
more appropriately. " An arrangement
that fosters support to help
employees make good business
decisions regarding their retirement
saving always has been our
goal, " she explains.
Christy Freeman, director of benefits, Wayne-Sanderson Farms
together the companies launched
OneDigital Personalized Portfolios in 2023.
Around that time, Wayne-Sanderson merged three of its
retirement plans into one with Empower. The Empower Dynamic
Retirement Manager program allowed the qualified default investment
alternative to be split at 50 years old. Older workers now are
automatically enrolled in a managed account-though they may
opt out-and will get automatically escalated each year they stay.
This is a way to help longer-tenured employees save a little extra
each year, Freeman says.
The accounts are portable, so workers who move on retain
PLAN SNAPSHOT
PLAN SPONSOR: Wayne-Sanderson Farms, Oakwood, Georgia
PLAN TYPES: 401(k); defined benefit (frozen)
PLAN ASSETS: $500mm
PARTICIPANTS: 26,491
AVERAGE DEFERRAL RATE: 4.2%
PARTICIPATION RATE: 93.6%
EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION: 100% of up to 4%
Strong Early Returns
Auto-enrolling the older workers
is already showing results,
Freeman says. Over 6,000 are
now in a managed account. The employees most apt to stay
invested are those 50 through 59, she says. She has also seen
under-50 workers enroll. Under-50s otherwise are defaulted into
a Pimco RealPath Blend target-date fund.
The managed accounts do have extra fees, which also
concerned Freeman at first, she says, as they cause some people to
opt out. At the start and end of the year, the retirement committee
appraises the fees to ensure they are reasonable, she says.
" We don't have a lot of high earners, " she says. " We're
processing chickens. It wouldn't make sense if [the fees] on the
managed accounts didn't make sense based on [people's] wages. "
The offering is also still in its early stages, she adds and says she
expects participant fees to go down as more money gets invested.
The sponsor requires any provider it works with to supply
translations into Spanish and offer a language lab or an in-house
interpreter for other languages. This is especially key in its customized
communications campaigns and education,
the latter of
which it enhanced this year " to bring continued excitement about
saving for retirement, " Freeman says. " Plan design has really
helped our plans' overall success, but it can't replace the need for a
robust, continued communication effort. " -Remy Samuels
40 PLANSPONSOR.COM November - December 2024 Art by Chris Buzelli
http://www.PLANSPONSOR.COM
PLANSPONSOR - November/December 2024

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