Brady Corporation

NOMINATOR COMMENTS

Brady Corporation deserves recognition as PLANSPONSOR’s Plan Sponsor of the Year for its comprehensive and thoughtful approach to employee retirement security. The company offers two complementary retirement plans that work together to provide employees with a strong foundation for their financial future—the Brady Matched 401(k) Plan and Brady Funded Retirement Plan. By offering this combination of plans with thoughtful features and strong plan governance, Brady Corporation has created a retirement program that provides employees with a clear path to long-term financial security.

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.

Brady Corporation: Brady has partnered with Fidelity Investments and its Financial Wellness Communication and Education program offering. This program develops a communication strategy tailored to Brady’s needs and participant demographics, and the communication materials reflect Brady’s logo, plan, provisions and investment options.

In addition, Brady and Fidelity work annually to create a combined Brady/Fidelity communication calendar to enhance the participant experience and increase employee engagement. The below 2024 highlights show the impact our efforts have made in delivering a program that focuses on delivering better outcomes for our plan participants:

Brady has integrated multiple benefits into one Fidelity NetBenefits platform, which has led to ease of access for employees and overall increased engagement with benefits and financial wellness resources. Being able to see the big picture all in one place means better planning and more informed decisionmaking. There have been 706 digital planning and education interactions. Forty percent of participants took action (actions measured included increased deferral rate, investment exchanges and utilizing free planning and advice services) after engaging in a NetBenefits digital planning experience.

Additionally, there have been 281 calls from our employees with Fidelity’s planning and advice phone group, a team that offers unlimited one-on-one access to consultations, in-plan decision support and comprehensive planning. More than half of participants (56%) took action atter a one-on-one workplace discussion.

Also, 161 employees attended a Brady on-site education session, hosted by Fidelity reps. We offered various opportunities for our employees to learn about retirement planning, health savings accounts, financial wellness and more. Eighty percent of participants took action after attending a workshop or live/virtual education session.

PLANSPONSOR: What challenges do you face in plan administration or participant engagement?

Brady Corporation: A challenge we face is implementing educational sessions that encompass the full spectrum of financial literacy for all employees, from new hires to those nearing retirement. To overcome this, we’re incorporating targeted outreach initiatives, including specific programs for employees approaching retirement, to ensure comprehensive financial well-being for all staff.

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.