Ohio Gratings, Inc.

Amy Resnick (left), Karen Bartley (middle), John Bartley (right); Photo by Matt Kalinowski

The financial wellness program that Ohio Gratings, Inc., offers to its staff enables the employer to “meet people where they are”— doing that is important to Karen Bartley, executive vice president, and John Bartley, president and CEO of the Canton, Ohio, manufacturing company, she says. It was why they retooled their company’s retirement plan.

The Bartleys noticed that some of the associates, due to a range of expenses, missed out on the company match by deferring less than the required 4%. The couple wanted to ensure that all the associates received a base contribution to their plan account, regardless of their financial situation or ability to contribute.

So the company, a producer of metal traction flooring, scrapped its match formula in the 2023 plan year and moved to an employer nonelective contribution approach. The couple say they were confident that, with a focused educational effort, eliminating the match would not lower participation.

“It’s not so much a recruitment strategy but certainly a retention [strategy] to show our people we want to be an employer … that’s there for them,” John Bartley says. For the 2022 plan year, Ohio Gratings contributed the equivalent of about 7% of pay to all the associates, bringing the total contribution in calendar year 2023 to an average 13%.

Michael Chisnell, a partner in and chief investment officer at Bruton Chisnell Advisors, was integral in helping Ohio Gratings update its plan design. Before that, participants averaged deferrals of only 3.5%, Chisnell says.

“If employees need to be saving 15% to 20% per year, it’s a really bold statement for an employer to say, ‘We’re putting in the first 4%,’” he says. The “nonelective contribution is a building block for additional company contributions, and it gives the employers a lot of dials on a control panel to make decisions they wouldn’t be able to with a match design.”

In late 2022, BCA, as the plan’s new adviser, spearheaded a comprehensive fiduciary review. The result was a consolidation of service providers, fee reduction, selection of a new recordkeeper—T. Rowe Price—installation of a new fund menu and an “intentional road map” for better associate engagement. T. Rowe helped the plan reduce its total annual fees by nearly 49%.

The sponsor, its new recordkeeper and BCA conducted a re-enrollment campaign, which included mandatory educational sessions and one-on-one meetings for all associates, on company time.

The plan sponsor’s financial wellness program, “The Only Person You Cheat Is You,” is not mandatory but is available to all, on the clock. Over the eight classes, employees create a personal mission statement and evaluate their goals in terms of balancing their home life with their work life.

“Our ultimate goal,” Karen Bartley says, “is to serve people where they are in their current situation.”

—Remy Samuels