Does anyone know of a good survey or other source of information that would provide insight as to the popularity of various match arrangements - such as whether a match (1) includes tiered rates, (2) includes different rates based on years of service, (3) includes different rates based on years of participation, (4) imposes a maximum dollar match, etc. I reviewed the surveys available by link on this website and was not sucessful in finding any survey that included these details.

Did you ever get a response from this? Did you ever find any good surveys?

Keith N, I am also looking for information regarding various matching arrangements, especially anything on variable rate matches. Did you have any success?

G Has

no, I haven't had much luck.

My company annually benchmarks plan design/usage for our clients. One benchmarked item is the employer match.

Here are some stats from PSCA. It may be worth pruchasing the annual survey. The survey breaks down the stats by plan type and size.

The stats to follow are for "all plans"

1) Fixed match- 86.7%
2) Graded match- 10.9%
3) Based on years of service- 1.5%


Types of Fixed Matching Formulas
$.25 per $1.00 or less 18.0%
> $.25 per $1.00 and < .50 per $1.00 4.6%
$.50 per $1.00 46.5%
> $.50 and less than $1.00 per $1.00 7.0%
$1.00 per $1.00 or greater 24.0%