Shentel

Shentel, a telecommunications firm based in Edinburg, Virginia, drives its retirement plan focus from the top, with senior executives participating on the plan committee. This not only means that leaders can support employees through the plan offerings and regular updates, but that they have the knowledge and interest to share benefit highlights and information with staff.

The positive results for employees are numerous, including Shentel paying the plan’s recordkeeping fees, rather than passing them on to employees, as well as routinely reviewing the plan fee structure to ensure employees can save as much as possible. Another key feature added to the plan is a retirement income annuity option for employees leaving the plan who may want to lock in a regular paycheck.

“We provided a lifetime managed-income option for our terminated plan participants, as of April 2021, as a means to assist participants to transform lifetime savings into a predictable stream of income,” says Heather Tormey, vice president and chief human resources officer at Shentel.

Since the plan has been in place just a little more than one year, Tormey says Shentel does not have enough activity to report detailed feedback. Shentel does believe it is an option that employees want and suspects it will see strong uptake.

That said, the leadership team has led other initiatives that some plan sponsors shy away from, including a re-enrollment process that increased the participation rate to 98.3% from 95%, a shift to lower-cost investments and giving more back to the employee plan when possible. The firm recently made a one-time contribution for employees to share in the proceeds of a strong year.

These actions are backed by a solid foundation of a 3% match, 3% discretionary/profit-sharing contribution and a 2% non-elective safe harbor contribution. Beyond these plan decisions, the company has looked to take advantage of programs to help employees in times of need, according to Tormey.

“In addition to our robust contributions and matching program, in the past we have shared with our non-senior-management employees one-time additional contributions both from the corporate tax savings from the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 and from the 2021 large gain on the sale of a company business asset,” Tormey says. “The senior management team felt it was important to recognize the contributions of our employees in growing the business and our being successful.”

Tormey says the actions received “positive feedback” from employees and that they were “very appreciative of the additional contributions.”

In working with its providers, T. Rowe Price and CBiz, Shentel’s leadership looks poised to continue to get positive feedback, as well as to advance in its offerings, all to the end goal of helping employees save.

—Alex Ortolani