The Standard Makes it Convenient for Maverik Employees to Save for Retirement

When many of your employees are lower-paid, convincing them to save for their future by contributing to their company-sponsored retirement plan can be a challenge. But Maverik Inc., a chain of 185 convenience stores in seven Western states, has managed to do just that since teaming up with The Standard as its retirement plan provider.

The North Salt Lake, Utah-based company, which was founded in 1928, began looking for a new retirement plan provider a little more than two years ago, said Spencer Hewlett, Maverik’s chief financial officer. “We wanted a provider that wasn’t focused on trying to sell us their own funds,” he said. He credited Rob Baumgarten, The Standard’s vice president of Eastern Region sales, and Rhonda Randell, regional client service manager in The Standard’s Denver office, with sealing the deal.

“They were very forthright and didn’t try to dance around the issues,” Spencer said. “All of our people were very impressed.”

The Standard has been very active about meeting with Maverik’s employees and helping them understand the importance of enrolling in the retirement plan, Hewlett said, and the results show. When The Standard came on board, the average deferral percentage for Maverik’s non-highly-compensated employees was less than 1 percent, said Jerry VanTassel, Maverik’s account manager with The Standard. Those employees are now deferring an average of 1.82 percent, and participation in the plan has increased by more than 40 percent.

What’s the method behind this success? The Standard employed tactics including:

• conducting live meetings in central locations in each state
• launching targeted enrollment campaigns with employees and store directors at each store
• sponsoring a booth at Maverik’s annual corporate tradeshow where store directors are required by the company to visit and discuss retirement plan features
• coordinating and conducting regular conference calls, WebEx meetings and targeted mailings customized to fit Maverik’s diverse employee population on an ongoing and regular basis

“The best thing is to get out there and talk to employees, and show them that contributing to their plan is not going to affect their paycheck much because it’s pre-tax,” Jerry said. “Many people — and young people especially — think there’s always time to save later. But we know that the best time to start saving is now.”