ABX Innovative Packaging Solutions, LLC

NOMINATOR COMMENTS

The plan sponsor was created from a spin-out of a publicly traded company. The sponsor took significant steps to enhance the plan from the 2021 spin-out to the present. The company created a formal committee and started implementing plan design changes from the base plan design that had been exported from the publicly traded company.

The sponsor moved from an annually funded match to a per-payroll match and implemented key automatic features. It moved its participation rate from 63.4% in June 2022 to 88% in 2023 to 89% in the present. The average contribution rate remained around 7%. The company performed an extensive request for proposals, moved recordkeepers and performed a qualified default investment alternative re-enrollment in 2023.

Jon Rickers (left) and Amanda Lindauer (right)

PLANSPONSOR: Please cite any noteworthy initiatives you have taken in the past 24 to 36 months that have produced results to improve your plan, and describe the results.

ABX: We formed a retirement fiduciary committee to improve governance and plan oversight three years ago. During that time, we changed recordkeepers, added automatic enrollment, automatic escalation (up to 6%) and financial wellness and educational programs, as well as improved our fund offerings.

As a result, participation has increased to 90% currently from around 63%. Our voluntary turnover has reduced, to 22% from 25%, and the 401(k) is no longer mentioned in exit interviews as a contributing factor. Most importantly, our participants consistently share that they appreciate ABX educating them about financial wellness and helping them to properly prepare for retirement.

Since the workforce at ABX is mostly blue collar and without a desk/computer, system administration can be challenging, as can the distribution of materials and communication about plan changes and/or benefits. Our move to the new recordkeeper to align with our existing system addressed many of these challenges and provided a mobile-enabled solution.

The retirement fiduciary committee—a chair, a secretary and two members represented by executives from finance and human resources—meets quarterly to ensure the recordkeeper and our consultant are acting in our team members’ best interest and that ABX follows best practices. We review funds, processes and risks each quarter, with a formal audit completed annually.

PLANSPONSOR: Is there anything else you would like to share?

ABX: ABX Innovative Packaging Solutions was formed in 2021, and many “people programs” did not exist for us then—the company was essentially a startup. Much progress has been made in only four years, and I believe that the retirement plan at ABX is as attractive and just as competitive as programs that are much larger and have been around for many, many years.

This year, for our Plan Sponsor of the Year profiles, we are publishing Q&As based on the finalists’ applications and nominator comments. Responses are edited and may be paraphrased. In cases where the finalist self-nominated or, on its application, referred judges to the nomination for the answer, we have attributed those nominator answers to the plan sponsor.