Employers looking to take their workplace retirement savings plans to the next level were honored at the 13th annual Excellence & Innovation Awards held Oct. 22 in Pasadena, Calif., as part of Pensions & Investments’ Defined Contribution West conference.
The awards — sponsored jointly by P&I and the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association — recognized five individuals and two teams for initiatives that aimed to improve employees’ retirement readiness.
Several used re-enrollment campaigns to “auto-boost” the deferral rates of employees not maximizing the employer matching contribution, while others attacked the perennial issue of helping employees draw down their retirement savings by introducing target-date funds with built-in annuities to their plan investment menus.
Other winning initiatives revolved around the launch of an in-plan emergency savings program and a deep data dive into racial and other disparities in workplace retirement readiness.
"This year's Excellence & Innovation award winners again demonstrate a deep commitment to improving retirement readiness and security of their participants,'' said Julie Tatge, P&I's interim editor-in-chief. "By highlighting their very good work, we hope their initiatives will encourage other plan sponsors.''
"Each year, these awards are an inspiring reminder of the many ways plan sponsors are working to continually evolve their thinking around and approaches to retirement plan design and administration," said Lew Minsky, president and CEO of DCIIA. "It's a pleasure to read the nominations each year and recognize the innovations and best practices being honored with these awards."
The winners are:
- Sarah Fry, vice president, associate general counsel and assistant secretary at NACCO Natural Resources Corp. Fry oversaw a 401(k) plan re-enrollment campaign that made sure that part-time and temporary workers would take advantage of the company’s matching contribution.
- Raymond Jimenez, president of Adventist Healthcare Retirement Plans. Jimenez led a seven-year initiative to revamp Adventist’s multiple employer plan. The effort started in 2017 with the streamlining of the plan’s investment options and concluded in May with the implementation of a target-date fund with an embedded annuity — the BlackRock LifePath Paycheck fund — as the plan’s qualified default investment option.
- Mark Meigs, executive secretary of Tennessee Valley Authority Retirement System. Meigs led a five-year effort to provide employees with a “pension-like” option in TVARS’ 401(k) plan. He and his team ultimately chose a target-date fund with a built-in annuity — the BlackRock LifePath Paycheck fund — as the plan’s qualified default investment option.
- Rose Murtaugh, associate director of pensions at International Motors. Murtaugh oversaw a company 401(k) plan re-enrollment campaign that more than doubled the number of employees on track to cover 75% or more of their income in retirement.
- Stephanie Paulson, vice president of total rewards at U.S. Venture. Under Paulson’s leadership, the company launched a multipronged employee communications program that explained a new deferral rate “auto-boost” and auto-escalation feature. As a result of the campaign, the percentage of people maximizing the company’s match hit 90%, well above the industry average of 69%.
- Indiana University Health retirement team. Led by CIO Josh Rabuck, the team delved into data showing racial disparities in the retirement readiness of its workforce. The deep dive helped support the healthcare system’s decision to add automatic escalation to its 401(k) plan, a move that would improve the retirement readiness of disadvantaged groups more than it would the overall employee population.
- Unum Group financial well-being team. Led by Ben Roberge, assistant vice president of financial well-being and retirement programs at Unum, the team spearheaded an initiative that made emergency savings accounts linked to the company’s 401(k) plan available to employees. More than 800 employees are enrolled in the accounts, each amassing an average of $1,500 in emergency savings.
