How has the pandemic affected employer 401(k) contributions?
If only 10 percent of the roughly 600,000 employers that currently offer workplace retirement plans suspended or reduced their contributions, the long-term impact would be huge.
More than nine in 10 companies will make their retirement plan contributions this year despite the economic turbulence created by the pandemic, according to the latest survey from the Plan Sponsor Council of America.
“As things stand today, most responding companies still seem optimistic that the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be short-lived, though it bears noting that the economic impact varies widely by industry and by region,” the survey report said.
Although most companies are not making changes to plan contributions this year, smaller organizations clearly have been more affected by current conditions and are thus more likely to have suspended or reduced plan contributions. More than 10 percent of plans with fewer than 50 participants have made changes to the matching contribution, which is three times the number of organizations with 5,000 or more participants.
How does the pandemic year of 2020 compare with the financial crisis of 2008?
“In hindsight, the impact of the financial crisis seemed more dramatic and more targeted in its impact than the current pandemic, which many viewed, certainly at the outset, as being of a more limited duration,” the report said. “Moreover, the government assistance in recent months has been considerably broader-based than the `bailouts’ that accompanied the efforts to reassure financial markets in 2008.
“Perhaps as a result, the response by employers in 2008 was more severe and more sudden than the more measured response to the current pandemic. Indeed, a snapshot survey conducted by PSCA in 2009 found that four times as many employers moved to suspend matching contributions than have done so thus far in 2020, and more than a quarter of plans suspended or reduced non-matching contributions, compared to only 2.3 percent of plans so far this year.”
Larger employers were noticeably more likely to suspend contributions in the aftermath of the financial crisis, while the pattern has been just the opposite in the wake of the pandemic.
“While not surprising, as a note of caution for the future, it is worth noting that in 2008 companies that suspended their matching contributions experienced a decrease in plan participation to a much greater degree (73 percent of companies) than those that did not change their matching contribution, as well as a decrease in participant deferral rates,” the report said.
Despite the economic strains of the COVID-19 pandemic, most organizations still remain committed to providing retirement plans and plan contributions for employees. However, if only 10 percent of the roughly 600,000 employers that currently offer workplace retirement plans suspended or reduced their contributions, the long-term impact on retirement security would be significant.
Fortunately, employers understand this impact. As one respondent noted, “We feel COVID will affect business for a small period of time. Good retirement plans for our employees is a forever need.”
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