Ingevity Corporation

Ingevity Corporation produces biodegradable plastics, activated carbon and chemicals for fields as varied as agriculture, road paving and publication printing. Working for sustainable solutions is an overriding company goal, helping to win Ingevity 58th place on Newsweek’s list of “America’s [500] Most Responsible Companies 2023.”

Also ranking high—this time for employee satisfaction, in Ingevity’s surveys—is its retirement program. The plan sponsor frequently meets with the plan’s advisers to improve the plan, consider new initiatives and keep up with legislation by which the plan could be affected.

“Over the past 12 months, we’ve introduced access to licensed financial planners to all employees, at no cost, and launched a debt management tool,” notes Tamra Miller, Ingevity’s benefits manager. “We’ve also partnered with our administrator to educate employees via webinars and targeted ready for retirement meetings.”

Educating employees on the use of the resources has been the sponsor’s biggest challenge, Miller says.

Education is particularly important because of Ingevity’s history. The company was formed less than a decade ago as a spinoff from a company with a defined benefit plan. “Even though we’re a 7-year-old company, we have people who have been with us for 40 and 50 years—it’s an interesting dynamic,” Miller says.

“We had to introduce people to the fact that they were going to have this 3% nonelective contribution, which they had never had, and that the match was 6% on everything because there was no pension. These were all big education moments,” she says. The company offered the match and automatic enrollment from day one as a new company. “It’s a powerful message in the beginning and a great recruiting tool—it really resonates with people,” says Miller. The employer match is 100% vested immediately, and the 3% nonelective contribution vests after three years of employment.

It has also had to figure out the best ways to reach a wide variety of employees, which include 43% salaried, 35% hourly and 22% bargained employees. “We use multiple resources to try and educate our employees on their benefits and available services,” says Miller. “Email, intranet, Marlin board [digital sign]s, newsletters and posters are the most utilized.”

In 2022, Ingevity changed the automatic escalation cap from 10% to 15%. “Very few opt out of this provision,” she says. The company also offers free one-on-one meetings with a financial planner, which have appealed to the range of employees, regardless of income level, and helped them become even more engaged. “We wanted real service with real people,” she says. “The financial planners weren’t expecting the response they had—about 40 or 60 calls on the first day.”

Last year, the sponsor started to show participants consolidated financial information when they log into their account, a capability it lacked before switching its recordkeeper to Empower Retirement. “Ingevity wants associates to have the holistic view of their retirement, so we import the defined benefit balances so they can see them and the deferred comp and defined contribution, too, all in one place,” says Jane Ravey, managing director of relationship management with Empower Retirement.

Participants may also add other information about their finances, such as outside individual retirement accounts. “It’s a fantastic visual model of your total wealth package,” says Miller.

Ingevity recently acquired a business with a less desirable plan and poor participation, and the company made it a priority to bring those employees into the plan immediately. “They had no match, and you had to be there a year before you could contribute,” Miller says. Everything was on paper, which was particularly difficult for the truck drivers in the logistics division, who spent little time in the office. “It was important for me and Ingevity to get them into our 401(k) plan from day one,” she says.

“What differentiates Ingevity is its focus on employees’ holistic wellness, which translates into a positive workforce, and [the sponsor is] eager to embrace new features,” Ravey says.

—Kimberly Lankford