Most plan sponsors have at least one retirement plan committee with five to 10 members, according to a survey released Thursday by the Plan Sponsor Council of America.
More than 3 in 5 sponsors (63.9%) have one retirement plan committee and 19% have two, the survey found.
Sponsors were most likely to set up a committee responsible for retirement plan administration, with 79.3% establishing them. They were also likely to have a committee responsible for plan investments, with 67.6% setting them up. The report noted that some plans have one committee for both functions. Few sponsors (5.8%) report having committees on company stock.
More than three-quarters of plan sponsors (78.4%) have documents that formally establishes their plan committees, a characteristic that is especially prevalent among plan sponsors with more than 5,000 participants (93.5%).
"Regardless of the committee structure chosen, having a documented prudent process in place remains the best practice — and shield against litigation — for retirement plan fiduciaries," said Nevin Adams, chief content officer and head of research at the PSCA umbrella group American Retirement Association, in a news release.
More than 6 in 10 sponsors reported that their retirement plan administration and investments committees have five to 10 members and met quarterly. Almost half (49.7%) always have legal counsel present at the meetings.
The survey, which was conducted in April, is based on responses from 255 plan sponsors representing a range of industries and plan sizes.
