Fullsight, LLC

Many financial advisers recommend participants aim to save at least 15% of their income for retirement, which makes the average Fullsight, LLC, employee savings rate of more than 20% impressive.

That number includes the 10.6% average employee deferral, the employer match—dollar-for-dollar of the first 6%—and annual discretionary contribution, last year 4%.

Fullsight, a firm of engineers and consultants to the mobility industry, in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, sees contributions as a way to say thank you to employees and recognize that the organization’s success reflects the dedication of its workers.

“The big message behind those contributions is ‘We’re having a good year, and we couldn’t do this without you,’” says Elizabeth Jones, Fullsight’s chief human resources officer.

The high employee saving rate means that 44% of employees are now on track for retirement, based on a 70% income replacement projection, compared with an industry average of just 17.1% on track. Among employees who have been with the company for five years or more, the percentage on track for retirement is even higher, at 56%. That income replacement rate is a key metric for the plan committee, and one that it sees as a source of pride.

“This is an organization that previously had a pension plan, so preparing the employees for retirement has always been very important to [Fullsight],” says Joseph Cravotta, a senior plan consultant and manager of institutional services with HB Retirement. “It always has that end goal in mind, so it’s not just building a plan to help with retention and recruitment, but also to make sure [the plan is] effective in accomplishing that goal.”

Beyond simple retirement savings, Fullsight takes a holistic approach to financial well-being. The organization actively invests in the financial literacy of its staff, providing ongoing support and financial education. This includes group education seminars, as well as one-on-one financial planning via phone, video conference or in-person sessions available on-site a few times per year. Employees who don’t want to meet with an adviser can still access education and digital tools through their benefits hub.

The sponsor also actively monitors plan metrics to look for areas in which it can improve. For example, as Fullsight has experienced additional turnover in recent years, it also saw a drop in participation at the beginning of 2023 to 85% from about 91%. In response, last July the organization added automatic enrollment for the first time, sweeping in not only new hires but also all existing participants contributing less than 6%.

“Sometimes employees might not be prioritizing their own retirement—not out of intention, but because of a lack of time, focus or knowing how to do it,” Jones says. “Putting in the automatic contribution was a way to further empower and enable our employees and take some of the administrative work out of their hands.”

While the organization was prepared to receive some negative responses after the move, it got very little pushback from employees at all, and plan participation has since soared to 95%.

“In HR, we always say, no news means that people like it,” Jones says. “If they didn’t like it, they’d let you know. There really hasn’t been any pushback.

—Beth Braverman