Central Iowa Power Cooperative

Many plan sponsors would be happy with a plan participation rate that’s above 90%. But Central Iowa Power Cooperative, a cooperative electrical energy provider in Des Moines, Iowa, has refused to settle, boosting its plan’s participation rate from 94% to an astounding 100% over the past decade. At the same time, plan participants’ average deferral has increased from 8% to 12%.

Besides the plan’s use of both automatic enrollment and automatic escalation to boost participant engagement, the biggest driver of the participation increase has been a focus on a well-rounded education program that stresses retirement preparation, says Memorea Schrader, the organization’s vice president for human resources.

“There are many opportunities throughout the year for employees to receive education about their retirement program and their financial well-being,” Schrader says. “We’ve done that for years and years, and that’s the key to our success.”

The sponsor also takes a targeted outreach approach to maintain that 100% participation rate. When employees opt out, a CAPTRUST representative contacts them to make sure they understand the benefit and that they’re potentially leaving money on the table.

“If, after we reach out, they don’t want to participate, at least we feel like they’re making an educated decision,” says Jean Duffy, a senior vice president and financial adviser with CAPTRUST.

Duffy recently worked with the sponsor to increase the cap on its auto-escalation rate from 10% to 15%, after pointing out data on comparable plans showing that 10% is no longer the most common maximum.

“[Central Iowa Power] wants to be competitive,” Duffy says. “They always want to know what other plan sponsors are doing and see if it makes sense for their employees.”

In addition to group seminars and digital tools, that education includes optional one-on-one sessions, for any participant, with a CAPTRUST adviser—a feature that more than 80% of participants have used at least once. In those sessions, the adviser and employee discuss that individual’s unique financial situation and short- and long-term money goals.

“Those that are comfortable with technology might choose a webinar or choose to play around in one of our online portals, while someone who isn’t as comfortable might want the in-person meetings we provide for education,” Schrader says. “Employees newer in their career might have more interest in information related to student loans than someone who’s closer to retirement.”

For Duffy, the sessions have an added benefit. They give her a sense of the most important financial issues to employees, which she can share as feedback with the plan sponsor.

Central Iowa Power also offers biannual retirement readiness seminars to employees. These seminars focus not only on the financial aspects of retirement, such as income planning, Social Security and Medicare, but also on the nonfinancial side of ending a working career. The organization encourages employees to bring their spouses to these seminars.

“Oftentimes, these decisions are not made alone, so we want everyone who is helping make those decisions to be able to hear the information and ask questions,” Schrader says. “It’s a huge transition, so helping someone in any way possible to better manage that transition is something we want to do.”

—Beth Braverman