Arvest Bank

Arvest Bank, with locations in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, is always seeking opportunities to better the health of its 401(k) plan. A few of the noteworthy plan design enhancements the financial services company has implemented recently include: lowering the age requirement for eligibility from 21 to 18; raising the automatic enrollment rate from 3% to 5%; and increasing the automatic escalation limit from 6% to 10%.

Still, supporting plan participants’ retirement readiness goes beyond providing a 401(k), employer matching contributions and low-cost investments, says Michelle Van Schenck, executive director, total rewards. The company recognized that greater family support and caregiving for employees’ immediate needs will set retirement plan participants on a path to greater retirement readiness. Arvest Bank bolstered its financial support resources for employees by adding Wellthy, a provider of family-care concierge services, at no cost to all company associates.

“We were noticing that some participants] were taking out 401(k) loans or hardship distributions because they were having medical expenses or other financial hardships,” Van Schenck explains. Wellthy connects employees to a myriad customized services that provide resources to help individuals with disabilities or special needs and their family caregivers. “Whether it’s caregiving, medical, legal or financial support, it offers a broader spectrum than some of our previous benefit offerings,” she says.

The program contributes to retirement readiness by keeping employees actively working. Those using Wellthy don’t have to take time off from their job. The resource—added on January 1—has saved workers well over 2,380 hours that otherwise would have been lost.

“We had a number of women who were leaving the workforce due to caregiving responsibilities,” says Gay Lynn Hearst, director of benefits at Arvest Bank. Family members don’t have to use Family and Medical Leave Act time, she notes.

Keeping employees in the workforce leads to better 401(k) plan engagement. Arvest is seeing the benefits of its efforts. Its plan has a 93% participation rate—up from 87% in 2018. Overall, participants are on track to replace approximately 67% of their income in retirement. Van Schenck says this results from focusing on plan health and the overall health of its workers. And, she says, the growth is especially impressive considering the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arvest incorporated this mission of retirement readiness and financial wellness support for participants into the plan sponsor’s ongoing communication campaign for targeted workforce messaging. Working with the plan’s recordkeeper, Voya Financial, the sponsor targets communications to specific employee cohorts and those in the plan not meeting the employer match contributions or maybe not contributing at all, says Van Schenck. 

According to Torry Dell, director of consumer engagement at Voya, Arvest Bank partnered with her firm to send personalized email nudges related to financial wellness to more than 7,500 participants. It also included retirement plan “tips and tricks” information in its open enrollment period for other benefits and implemented a “Save More” campaign that resulted in 49 401(k) participants increasing their deferral percentage.

“We also look at age and gender demographics to know where employees are [in their retirement readiness] during their whole life cycle so we can communicate information that’s meaningful,” Dell says. “Do they need to adjust their investment strategies, for example. We had some associates that were only investing in one fund. So we sent information about diversifying their investments.”

Dell says Arvest Bank promoted guided content hubs containing targeted resources based on life stage, including the “Retire Better” resources for employees age 50 or older. This resulted in an uptick in digital engagement from 71% in 2019 to 80% in 2021.

“Trying to get more specific targeted communications to them—meeting them where they are—has been something that we’ve partnered with Voya to make sure we’re doing,” Van Schenck points out. “And we make sure they’re not just getting communications at the beginning of the year, but that they get useful information throughout the year that’s meaningful to them and where they are in their retirement journey.”

—Noah Zuss