News
Category: Surveys
...in the Pittsburgh Business Times (full article requires a subscription):
Senior executives are taking a much more active role in administering 401(k) plans than in the past, according to a survey of more than 125 employers in the tri-state area around Pittsburgh.
Of the respondents in this year’s survey by Downtown Pittsburgh-based consultant Cowden Associates Inc., 94 percent said senior executives are involved in making decisions about investments, up from 30 percent in 2007.
...in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (full article):
The survey of 128 area employers also found that 25 percent of companies were automatically enrolling employees in 401(k) plans, up from 16 percent in 2007.
Cowden said the survey also identified a major deficiency among plan sponsors: One-quarter said they did not have an investment policy statement, which outlines the general investment goals and objectives of a retirement plan.
...in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (full article):
Employers in the Pittsburgh region are taking action to retain and attract top employee talent by increasing contributions to their workers' 401(k) and related retirement plans well above the standard 3 percent mark, a consultant's survey found.
Cowden Associates Inc.'s second annual survey of employers who sponsor defined-contribution plans released Thursday found a substantial year-over-year percentage increase in employer matching contributions.
Cowden Associates survey finds significant changes in investment decision-making process
Significantly more senior executives are taking a direct role in decisions regarding their organization’s 401(k) plans than in the past, according to Cowden Associates, Inc.’s Second Annual Tri-State Defined Contribution Plan Sponsor Survey.
Of the respondents to this year’s survey, 94 percent indicated that their senior executives are involved in the investment decision-making process, compared with 30 percent in 2007.
More than 125 employers throughout the tri-state region participated in this year’s survey, which was conducted during March and April, and provided information on their location, size, total plan assets, type of organization, and eligibility for and participation in the plan.
A recent study by EBRI (Employee Benefit Research Institute) reports that many experienced employees might delay retirement if offered the right incentives. In partnership with the HR Policy Association, EBRI interviewed employees and retirees from 11 aerospace and defense industry companies. Nearly half of those polled said that feeling needed would be enough to get them to stay as much as 2 years longer. Half also said that receiving a full pension while adopting a part-time schedule would delay their retirement. Nearly as many would be enticed by a partial pension while working part-time. An overwhelming majority say that they would look positively on an employer asking them to stay longer. Employers have a narrow window to offer incentives for working longer, though. Many employees start thinking and planning for retirement as much as 2 years before they retire.
Cowden Associates' 2007/2008 Tri-State Employee Benefits Survey featured in the Pittsburgh Business Times:
A survey by Downtown employee benefits consultant Cowden Associates Inc. found that the number of businesses adopting some form of the so-called consumer-driven health care plan more than tripled since last year, but 107 out of 274 respondents, or 62.9 percent, said they were unlikely to offer the coverage in the future. Another 37 respondents, or 21.8 percent, said they had no interest in the plans, which usually incorporate a health reimbursement or savings account.
"It's a big change, and employees are not necessarily looking for big changes in the way their benefits are structured," said Cowden Executive President Vincent Wolf. "We seem to have hit a threshold, a ceiling, with these types of plans."
The full article requires a subscription.
Employers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio believe the future of managing health care costs lies in helping their employees manage their health through wellness programs, according to Cowden Associates, Inc. Seventh Annual Tri-State Area Employee Benefit Survey.
Cowden Associates, the region's leading independent human resources, compensation and employee benefit consulting firm, compiled results of its 2007-2008 survey from 274 employers throughout the tri-state region. Survey participants include for-profit, nonprofit and governmental employers. Size of employers ranged from less than 100 employees to more than 10,000.
"Competition for talented employees is strong, and employee benefits play a critical role in attracting and retaining those employees," said Cowden Associates President and CEO Jere Cowden. "As regional employers work to attract and retain talent in part through strong employee benefits plans, our regional survey data allow them to benchmark themselves against their regional competition and develop attractive, cost-effective plans."
The Tri-State 401(k) Plan Sponsor Survey performed by Cowden Associates and Cowden Advisors had made a few appearences in the press. Follow the links to read the full articles:
About one-third of 401(k) plan sponsors-advisers change investment options for their employees every two to five years or even less often &emdash; inaction experts called "unacceptable," a new survey found.
The Cowden Associates Inc. survey of 105 Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia employers found that 30.5 percent of all plans rarely change their option...
Continue reading at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
A recent survey of 100 area companies by the Downtown benefits consulting firm Cowden Associates Inc. found that 73 percent of employers are using internal investment committees to make decisions about what investment options to offer as part of the 401(k) plan rather than...
Cowden Associates, Inc., the region’s leading independent actuarial and employee benefit consulting firm, today presented results from its first Tri-State 401(k) Plan Sponsor Survey. Results identify areas of 401(k) plan sponsorship and participation in need of improvement as the plans emerge as America’s primary retirement vehicle.
The survey provides a baseline for measuring the effectiveness of the Pension Protection Act, which was passed to make participation in 401(k) plans easier.
Americans aren’t saving enough for retirement and too many aren’t saving at all – we’ve all heard that before. In mid-August, Cowden Associates/Cowden Advisers will release the results of the first annual Tri-State 401(k) Survey, revealing baseline participation and contribution rates for the Western PA, OH, and WV area. These numbers will help us evaluate changes sure to come from automatic enrollment and automatic contribution increases proscribed by the Pension Protection Act.
For now, Fidelity Investment’s 2007 401(k) report, an analysis of over 10 million participants in nearly 13,000 plans administered by Fidelity at the end of 2006, gives some not-so-rosy numbers: For plans administered by Fidelity, the average employee participation rate fell over one percent
See this article as it originally appeared in The State Journal.
Each of the past four years, without fail, Business owners and employers in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio have braced themselves for the inevitable — double-digit increases in medical coverage renewals charge by insurers.
Earlier this year, when Cowden Associates released results of its annual Tri-State Area Medical Benefi5ts survey, there was muted celebration in the region when the survey revealed the reneal increase in 2005 was only 9 percent...