NAPA Net - Polling Places 072916

Are We "Done" with Automatic Enrollment?

After a surge in adoption following passage of the Pension Protection Act (PPA), automatic enrollment designs seem to have plateaued in industry surveys. What do you think? Has automatic enrollment gone as far as it’s going to take us?

While the aggregate trendline hasn’t moved much in a number of years, and though automatic enrollment continues to be (much) more prevalent among larger plans than smaller ones, a recent Bloomberg article described the phenomena drawn from the latest survey by the Society for Human Resource Management as “Why Doesn’t Your Company Want You to Put More in Your 401(k)?” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-21/why-doesn-t-your-company-want-you-to-put-more-in-your-401-k

Those trendlines notwithstanding, earlier this year http://www.napa-net.org/news/managing-a-practice/industry-trends-and-research/what-new-ideas-are-connecting-with-plan-sponsors/ automatic enrollment was one of the most prevalent plan design concepts being “pitched” by NAPA-Net readers.

This week, we’d like to know about your sense of automatic enrollment trends.

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* 1. With the plans you work with, is automatic enrollment still being adopted?

Yes

No, but only because all of them have already adopted automatic enrollment

Not sure, some are still thinking about it.

Other (please specify)

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* 2. Among the plans you work with that haven't adopted automatic enrollment, what reason(s) do they give (check all that apply)?

Worried about the expense of the extra match associated with higher participation

Worried about the added expense of more participants in the plan.

Don't see any need to boost participation/no problems passing nondiscrimination testing.

Not interested in making a plan design change.

Not that paternalistic.

They've all adopted automatic enrollment

Other (please specify)

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* 3. What do you say to counter those objections?

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* 4. What have you found to be the most effective response to those objections?

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* 5. Any other comments on automatic enrollment, adopting automatic enrollment, resisting automatic enrollment, or persuading plan sponsors to embrace automatic enrollment?

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* 6. What is your role working with retirement plans?

Advisor

Provider

TPA

Plan sponsor

Recordkeeper

Other (please specify)

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* 7. What size plans do you PRIMARILY work with?

Under $10 million in assets

$10-$20 million

$20-$50 million

$50-100 million

$100 million - $250 million

$250 million - $500 million

Above $500 million

Other (please specify)

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* 8. Suggestions for future survey questions?

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* 9. All responses are anonymous and confidential, of course - but if you'd like me to know who you are, or allow for a response, you can leave your email below...