SECURE 2.0 may be complex and difficult, but it’s made it easier to implement many of the programs Walt Disney had long dreamed about, said Pascale Thomas, Walt Disney’s vice president of enterprise employee benefits and well-being, at Pensions & Investments' Defined Contribution West conference in Pasadena, Calif.
One, she said, is student loan matching on 401(k) contributions, a program that Walt Disney made available in March.
“The student loan debt match was something that we had been talking about for a number of years, but that we now had a way to be able to introduce it without it looking like one of those lovely ideas from the benefits department,” Pascale said in a keynote conversation with Nikki Pirrello, Pensions & Investments’ president and publisher.
“We could launch that and actually get the support and buy-in from the segments that could actually benefit the most in a way that did not require a ton of conversations in terms of negotiations,” she said.
The company estimated that approximately 1,200 of the eligible participants in the $16.5 billion 401(k) plan could benefit from student loan matching. Of the 1,200, approximately 400 availed themselves of the opportunity, Pascale said.
Other initiatives made possible through SECURE 2.0 included a short-term and emergency line of credit program.
Customizing financial communication is critically important to raise awareness and usage for the new programs given the unique needs of Walt Disney’s diverse employee population, Thomas said.
In developing financial education, the company does more than just develop a comprehensive strategy at the corporate level. It also provides regional leaders with a toolkit that they can customize at the local level.
“The messaging doesn’t always have to come from the benefits department,” Thomas said. “It can be further amplified by other parts of the organization.”
In addition, the company works with employee resource groups and affinity groups to develop what she describes as “a profound knowledge of the population that we’re serving.”
Thomas said she works with an individual who is a liaison with different employee resource groups to ensure that the company has a “clear sense for the type of material or the type of subjects that they are hearing from their membership.”
The company also works with nontraditional groups to “amplify the message” around financial well-being programs. For example, Walt Disney has a credit union that Thomas said has “great engagement” with lower-income employees.
The company decided to bring the credit union in contact with the record keeper “so that between the two of them there is cross-pollination around the communications,” Thomas said.
