Managing Your Company's Retirement Plan
It's easier to select and manage your company's 401(k) plan once you've taken four important steps.
- Choose a matching contribution.
- Decide on a vesting schedule.
- Select an investment provider.
- Provide for ongoing plan management.
1. Choose a Matching Contribution
Why an employer match?
- Increase the number of employees who participate.
- Increase the amount that employees contribute.
- Strengthen the actual benefits to participants that will be realized at retirement.
- Help manage employee turnover by vesting your company's match.
- Allow highly compensated employees to defer higher percentages of their salaries (due to increased participation).
- Several matching options are available. Some of the options appear in the table below:
Possible Employer Matching Contributions
| Option |
Employer Matching Contribution |
Not to Exceed This Percent of Employee's Salary |
Total Employer Contribution |
401(k) Optional Match |
| 1 |
0% |
0% |
0% |
| 2 |
25% |
4% |
1% |
| 3 |
50% |
4% |
2% |
| 4 |
50% |
6% |
3% |
| 5 |
100% |
3% |
3% |
401(k) Safe Harbor Provision Mandatory |
|
100% |
3% |
3% |
|
50% |
On next 2% |
1% |
|
|
Total Employer Contribution |
4% |
2. Decide on a Vesting Schedule
When you choose a vesting schedule, you determine the percentage of the employer contribution that an employee takes with them. Employees may be 100% vested immediately, or your company can choose to start at 0% and increase the percentage based on how long the employee has worked for your company.
Possible Vesting Schedules
| Years of Vesting Service |
VESTING PERCENTAGE |
|
Option 1 |
Option 2 |
Option 3* |
| 1 |
0% |
0% |
100% |
| 2 |
20% |
0% |
100% |
| 3 |
40% |
100% |
100% |
| 4 |
60% |
100% |
100% |
| 5 |
80% |
100% |
100% |
| 6 |
100% |
100% |
100% |
| |
| *401(k) Safe Harbor vesting |
3. Select an Investment Provider
For our larger clients, Paychex provides broader investment choices and the flexibility to select funds that best fit your company's needs. You can customize your company's investments through an open architecture fund platform or choose a pre-defined fund package. Either way, our investment options allow you to work with a financial advisor or manage the plan yourself.
4. Ongoing Plan Management
Once your company's plan is established, Paychex offers a variety of tools that make it easy and convenient to manage.
Allows participants to view and change information, download transaction history, and see rates of return for the entire account or for individual funds, anytime, from anywhere with an Internet connection.
View a summary of plan investments and elections, individual participant information, and on-demand reports including nondiscrimination testing status. The site also allows you to update the employee census and view transaction histories for the plan and its participants.
If you work with a financial advisor, this site allows him or her to effectively service your account by accessing plan and participant information, including transaction histories and rates of return.
We provide participants with a toll-free number where they can ask plan questions, access balances, and make changes to their accounts.
You can access your company's plan and make important adjustments anytime, through our toll-free information line.
Each quarter, we provide informative plan statements for employers and participants.
Other 401(k) and Retirement Services
For more information about our products and services, please contact a Paychex representative at 800-322-7292, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET. Or, complete our online form or a no-obligation quote.
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