A meeting held last month by the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees revealed Wright State had been planning to cut down on the amount of retirement vendors available for faculty. The resolution was passed, and employees will have less vendors to choose from.
“This will be a positive step forward for our employees,” said Sheri Mickey-Boggs, Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, in the meeting. “We can enhance the employee experience to maximize the retirement outcomes.”
When faculty are first hired by the university, they must make a decision between a state retirement plan, or the Alternative Retirement Plan (ARP). Currently, faculty can choose from seven different vendors under ARP, which will be cut down to five. Those five were evaluated to be the best, based on factors such as fees, investment options and available plans, according to Beth Gisewite, Human Resources Benefits Analyst.
“All the choices can be very overwhelming,” said Mickey-Boggs. “[My team and I] think we can increase employee participation and engagement.”
The two ARP vendors that got cut will impact 14 out of 709 employees. For employees under the 403(b) Plan, the cut from twelve vendors to five will impact 72 of 478 employees. Employees whose vendors got cut will receive a notification and a date by which they need to switch to a new vendor, according to Gisewite.
For employees whose vendors are cut, “They can maintain their earnings with their current vendor, but the university is no longer going to allow them to deposit into these [old] vendors,” said Mickey-Boggs.
No new funds are allowed to go into old accounts as of January 1, 2018, according to Gisewite.
