Defined Benefit Pensions: Survey Results of the Nation's Largest Private Defined Benefit Plan Sponsors
Released: 2009-03-30T00:00:00

Letter

From January 1997 to the Time of the Survey Response, Large Sponsors of DB Plans Have Revised Their Benefit Offerings in Various Ways

Our survey of the largest sponsors of DB pension plans reveals that they have made a number of revisions to their benefit offerings over approximately the last 10 years or so. Generally, respondents reported that they revised benefit formulas, converted some plans to hybrid plans (such as cash balance plans), or froze some of their plans. For example, 81 percent of responding sponsors reported that they modified the formulas of one or more of their DB plans.

Respondents were asked to report changes for plans or benefits that covered only nonbargaining employees, as well as to report on plans or benefits that covered bargaining unit employees. Fifty-eight percent of respondents who reported on plans for collective- bargaining employees indicated they had generally increased the generosity of their DB plan formulas between January 1997 and the time of their response (see app. I, slide 12). In contrast, 48 percent of respondents reporting on plans for their nonbargaining employees had generally decreased the generosity of their DB plan formulas since 1997. “Unpredictability or volatility of DB plan funding requirements” was the key reason cited for having changed the benefit formulas of plans covering nonbargaining employees (see app. I, slide 14). “Global or domestic competitive pressures” in their industry was the key reason cited for the changes to the plans covering collectively bargained employees (see app. I, slide 13). With regard to plans for bargaining employees, however, a number of the sponsors who offered reasons for changes to bargaining unit plans also volunteered an additional reason for having modified their plans covering bargaining employees. Specifically, these sponsors wrote that inflation or a cost-of- living adjustment was a key reason for their increase to the formula. This suggests that such plans were flat-benefit plans that may have a benefit structure that was increased annually as part of a bargaining agreement.

Meanwhile, sponsors were far more likely to report that they had converted a DB plan covering nonbargaining unit employees to a hybrid plan design than to have converted DB plans covering collectively bargained employees. For example, 52 percent of respondents who reported on plans for nonbargaining unit employees had converted one or more of their traditional plans to a cash balance or other hybrid arrangement (see app. I, slide 15). Many cited “trends in employee demographics” as the top reason for doing so (see app. I, slide 16). Among respondents who answered the cash balance conversion question for their collectively bargained plans, 21 percent reported converting one or more of their traditional plans to a cash balance plan.

Regarding plan freezes, 62 percent of the responding firms reported a freeze, or a plan amendment to limit some or all future pension accruals for some or all plan participants, for one or more of their plans (see app. I, slide 18). Looking at the respondent’s plans in total, 8 percent of the plans were described as hard frozen, meaning that all current employees who participate in the plan receive no additional benefit accruals after the effective date of the freeze, and that employees hired after the freeze are ineligible to participate in the plan. Twenty percent of respondents’ plans were described as being under a soft freeze, partial freeze, or “other” freeze. Although not statistically generalizable, the prevalence of freezes among the large sponsor plans in this survey is generally consistent with the prevalence of plan freezes found among large sponsors through a previous GAO survey that was statistically representative.

The vast majority of respondents (90 percent) to our most recent survey also reported on their 401(k)-type DC plans. At the time of this survey, very few respondents reported having reduced employer or employee contribution rates for these plans. The vast majority reported either an increase or no change to the employer or employee contribution rates, with generally as many reporting increases to contributions as reporting no change (see app. I, slide 21). The differences reported in contributions by bargaining status of the covered employees were not pronounced. Many (67 percent) of responding firms plan to implement or have already implemented an automatic enrollment feature to one or more of their DC plans.

According to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service, many DC plans require that workers voluntarily enroll and elect contribution levels, but a growing number of DC plans automatically enroll workers. Additionally, certain DC plans with an automatic enrollment feature may gradually escalate the amount of the workers’ contributions on a recurring basis. However, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) provided incentives to initiate automatic enrollment for those plan sponsors that may not have already adopted an automatic enrollment feature. Seventy- two percent of respondents reported that they were using or planning to use automatic enrollment for their 401(k) plans covering nonbargaining employees, while 46 percent indicated that they were currently doing so or planning to do so for their plans covering collective-bargaining employees (see app. I, slide 22). The difference in automatic enrollment adoption by bargaining status may be due to the fact that nonbargaining employees may have greater dependence on DC benefits. That is, a few sponsors noted they currently automatically enroll employees who may no longer receive a DB plan. Alternatively, automatic enrollment policies for plans covering collective-bargaining employees may not yet have been adopted, as that plan feature may be subject to later bargaining.

Health benefits are a large component of employer offered benefits. As changes to the employee benefits package may not be limited to pensions, we examined the provision of health benefits to active workers, as well as to current and future retirees. We asked firms to report selected nonwage compensation costs or postemployment benefit expenses for the year 2006 as a percentage of base pay. Averaging these costs among all those respondents reporting such costs, we found that health care comprised the single largest benefit cost. Active employee health plans and retiree health plans combined to represent 15 percent of base pay (see app. I, slide 24). DB and DC pension costs were also significant, representing about 14 percent of base pay. All of the respondents reporting on health benefits offered a health care plan to active employees and contributed to at least a portion of the cost. Additionally, all of these respondents provided health benefits to some current retirees, and nearly all were providing health benefits to retirees under the age of 65 and to retirees aged 65 and older. Eighty percent of respondents offered retiree health benefits to at least some future retirees (current employees who could eventually become eligible for retiree benefits), although 20 percent of respondents offered retiree health benefits that were fully paid by the retiree. Further, it appears that, for new employees among the firms in our survey, a retiree health benefit may be an increasingly unlikely offering in the future, as 46 percent of responding firms reported that retiree health care was no longer to be offered to employees hired after a certain date (see app. I, slide 25).

We asked respondents to report on how an employer’s share of providing retiree health benefits had changed over the last 10 years or so for current retirees. Results among respondents generally did not vary by the bargaining status of the covered employees (app. I, slide 27). However, 27 percent of respondents reporting on their retiree health benefits for plans covering nonbargaining retirees reported increasing an employer’s share of costs, while only 13 percent of respondents reporting on their retiree health benefits for retirees from collective-bargaining units indicated such an increase. Among those respondents with health benefits covering nonbargained retirees, they listed “large increases in the cost of health insurance coverage for retirees” as a major reason for increasing an employer’s share—not surprisingly. This top reason was the same for all of these respondents, as well as just those respondents reporting a decrease in the cost of an employer’s share. Additionally, a number of respondents who mentioned “other” reasons for the decrease in costs for employers cited the implementation of predefined cost caps.

Our survey also asked respondents to report on their changes to retiree health offerings for future retirees or current workers who may eventually qualify for postretirement health benefits. As noted earlier, 46 percent of respondents reported they currently offered no retiree health benefits to active employees (i.e., current workers) hired after a certain date. Reporting on changes for the last decade, 54 percent of respondents describing their health plans for nonbargaining future retirees indicated that they had decreased or eliminated the firm’s share of the cost of providing health benefits (see app. I, slide 30). A smaller percentage (41 percent) of respondents reporting on their health benefits for collectively bargained future retirees indicated a decrease or elimination of benefits. The need to “match or maintain parity with competitor’s benefits package” was the key reason for making the retiree health benefit change for future retirees among respondents reporting on their collective-bargaining employees (app. I, slide 32).

We asked respondents to report their total, future liability (i.e., present value in dollars) for retiree health as of 2004. As of the end of the 2004 plan year, 29 respondents reported a total retiree health liability of $68 billion. The retiree health liability reported by our survey respondents represents 40 percent of the $174 billion in DB liabilities that we estimate for these respondents’ DB plans as of 2004. According to our estimates, the DB liabilities for respondents reporting a retiree health liability were supported with $180 billion in assets as of 2004. We did not ask respondents about the assets underlying the reported $68 billion in retiree health liabilities. Nevertheless, these liabilities are unlikely to have much in the way of prefunding or supporting assets, due in large part to certain tax consequences. Although we did not ask sponsors about the relative sustainability of retiree health plans given the possible difference in the funding of these plans relative to DB plans, we did ask respondents to report the importance of offering a retiree health plan for purposes of firm recruitment and retention. Specifically, we asked about the importance of making a retiree health plan available relative to making a DB or DC pension plan available. Only a few respondents reported that offering DB or DC plans was less (or much less) important than offering a retiree health plan.

At the Time of the Survey, Large DB Sponsors Anticipated Making Few Additional Changes to DB Plans

Responding before October 2008—before the increasingly severe downturns in the national economy—most survey respondents reported they had no plan to revise benefit formulas or freeze or terminate plans, or had any intention to convert to hybrid plans before 2012. Survey respondents were asked to consider how their firms might change specific employee benefit actions between 2007 and 2012 for all employees. The specific benefit actions they were asked about were a change in the formula for calculating the rates of benefit accrual provided by their DB plan, a freeze of at least one DB plan, the conversion of traditional DB plans to cash balance or other hybrid designs, and the termination of at least one DB plan. For each possibility, between 60 percent and 80 percent of respondents said their firm was not planning to make the prospective change (see app I, slide 34).

When asked about how much they had been or were likely to be influenced by recent legislation or account rule changes, such as PPA or the adoption of Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) requirements to fully recognize obligations for postretirement plans in financial statements, responding firms generally indicated these were not significant factors in their decisions on benefit offerings. Despite these legislative and regulatory changes to the pension environment, most survey respondents indicated that it was unlikely or very unlikely that their firms would use assets from DB plans to fund qualified health plans; increase their employer match for DC plans; terminate at least one DB plan; amend at least one DB plan to change (either increase or decrease) rates of future benefit accruals; convert a DB plan to a cash balance or hybrid design plan, or replace a DB plan with a 401(k)-style DC plan.

Additionally, most respondents indicated “no role” when asked whether PPA, FASB, or pension law and regulation prior to PPA had been a factor in their decision (see app 1, slide 35). Though the majority of these responses indicated a trend of limited action related to PPA and FASB, it is interesting to note that, among the minority of firms that reported they were likely to freeze at least one DB plan for new participants only, most indicated that PPA played a role in this decision. Similarly, while only a few firms indicated that it was likely they would replace a DB plan with a 401(k)-style DC plan, most of these firms also indicated that both PPA and FASB played a role in that decision.

There were two prospective changes that a significant number of respondents believed would be likely or very likely implemented in the future. Fifty percent of respondents indicated that adding or expanding automatic enrollment features to 401(k)-type DC plans was likely or very likely, and 43 percent indicated that PPA played a major role in this decision. This is not surprising, as PPA includes provisions aimed at encouraging automatic enrollment and was expected to increase the use of this feature. Forty-five percent of respondents indicated that changing the investment policy for at least one DB plan to increase the portion of the plan’s portfolio invested in fixed income assets was likely or very likely—with 21 percent indicating that PPA and 29 percent indicating that FASB played a major or moderate role in this decision (see app 1, slide 36). Our survey did not ask about the timing of this portfolio change, so we cannot determine the extent of any reallocation that may have occurred prior to the decline in the financial markets in the last quarter of 2008.

Finally, responding sponsors did not appear to be optimistic about the future of the DB system, as the majority stated there were no conditions under which they would consider forming a new DB plan. For the 26 percent of respondents that said they would consider forming a new DB plan, some indicated they could be induced by such changes as a greater scope in accounting for DB plans on corporate balance sheets and reduced unpredictability or volatility of plan funding requirements (see app I, slides 38). Conditions less likely to cause respondents to consider a new DB plan included increased regulatory requirements of DC plans and reduced PBGC premiums (see app I, slide 39).

Conclusions

Until recently, DB pension plans administered by large sponsors appeared to have largely avoided the general decline evident elsewhere in the system since the 1980s. Their relative stability has been important, as these plans represent retirement income for more than three-quarters of all participants in single-employer plans. Today, these large plans no longer appear immune to the broader trends that are eroding retirement security. While few plans have been terminated, survey results suggest that modifications in benefit formulas and plan freezes are now common among these large sponsors. This trend is most pronounced among nonbargained plans but is also apparent among bargained plans. Yet, this survey was conducted before the current economic downturn, with its accompanying market turmoil. The fall in asset values and the ensuing challenge to fund these plans places even greater stress on them today.

Meanwhile, the survey findings, while predating the latest economic news, add to the mounting evidence of increasing weaknesses throughout the existing private pension system that include low contribution rates for DC plans, high account fees that eat into returns, and market losses that significantly erode the account balances of those workers near retirement. Moreover, the entire pension system still only covers about 50 percent of the workforce, and coverage rates are very modest for low-wage workers. Given these serious weaknesses in the current tax-qualified system, it may be time for policymakers to consider alternative models for retirement security.

Agency Comments

We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, and PBGC. The Department of the Treasury and PBGC provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Director of the PBGC, appropriate congressional committees, and other interested parties. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

If you have or your staffs any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-7215 or bovbjergb@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions are listed in appendix III.

Appendix I: Survey Results of the Nation’s Largest Private DB Plan Sponsors

Defined Benefit (DB) Pensions: Survey Results of the Nation’s Largest Private DB Plan Sponsors

Survey Objectives

• Assess the impact of recent developments facing sponsors of

the nation’s largest private sector DB plans: 1) What recent changes have employers made to their pension and benefit offerings? 2) What changes might employers make with respect to their pensions in the future, and how might these changes be influenced by changes in pension law and other factors?

GAO Survey of the Largest DB Sponsors: Overview of Survey and Topics

GAO Survey of the Largest DB Sponsors: Sampling/Summary Statistics

Target group - A selection sample of the largest 100 private

GAO Survey of the Largest DB Sponsors: Significance and Interpretation

As a selection sample of the largest plans, results are not

generalizable to all DB plan sponsors.

However, the sample can serve as an important indicator of the health of the private DB system and the sample’s possible importance to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

The 44 sponsoring firms that responded represent an estimated: 25 percent (or $370 billion) of total DB system liabilities as of 19 percent (or 6 million) of the system’s DB participants (active, separated-vested, retired as of 2004)

GAO Survey of the Largest DB Sponsors: Significance and Interpretation

Among the responding firms, the largest individual self-reported

business line was manufacturing, with other key areas being finance and information. (Figure 1)

These firms reported employing on average 75,000 employees in their U.S. operations in 2006.

GAO Survey of the Largest DB Sponsors: Context

The DB system has been in decline:

GAO Survey of the Largest DB Sponsors: Context

Survey conducted prior to:

Overview: Survey Findings

Between 1997 and October 2008:

Large DB Plan Sponsor Survey: Trends in DB Plan Sponsorship and Design

Trends in 401(k) Contributions among Large DB Plan Sponsors

Most DB plan sponsors also offered a DC plan, typically a 401(k) plan From 1997 to the time of survey response, most DB sponsors either

increased or did not change employer contributions to 401(k) plans for their NB employees. (Figure 8)

Main reasons for change included redesigned matching formula as well as compensation adjustments to attract top employees.

The vast majority of respondents reported that plans covering NB employees either increased or did not change employee contributions. Main reasons among respondents reporting increased contributions included addition of automatic enrollment feature to one or more plans. 72 percent of large sponsors reported either using or planning to use auto enrollment for plans covering NB employees (Figure 9).

Trends in 401(k) Contributions among Large DB Plan Sponsors: Bargaining Unit Employees

From 1997 to the time of survey response, most DB sponsors

either increased or did not change employer contributions to 401(k) plans for their bargaining unit employees. (Figure 8)

No single reason stood out for this result.

Bargaining unit employees of most sponsors did not change employee contributions. (Figure 8) 50 percent of large sponsors with plans covering CB employees reported either not using or not planning to use auto enrollment (Figure 9).

Large DB Plan Sponsor Survey: Health Benefits for Active Employees and Retirees

Health care was the single largest benefit as a percentage of base pay

(Figure 10)

All responding DB plan sponsors offered health insurance to active employees and contributed to the cost All responding DB plan sponsors offered health insurance to at least some current retirees—nearly all to both pre-age 65 and age 65-plus employees 80 percent provided health insurance to at least some active employees who become eligible for the benefit upon retirement 20 percent provided health insurance that was fully paid by the retired employee (Figure 11)

Large DB Plan Sponsor Survey: Health Benefits for Current Retirees

Compared to respondents reporting on their benefits covering CB employees, respondents with NB employees reported decrease in the employer’s share of the cost of providing health benefits to current retirees (Figure 12)

Main reasons were increases in cost of health insurance for retirees and for active employees (Figure 13)

Large DB Plan Sponsor Survey: Health Benefits for Future Retirees

46 percent of plan sponsors no longer offered retiree health benefits to active employees hired after a certain date. 54 percent decreased or eliminated the firm's share cost of providing health benefits for future retirees who were non-bargaining employees; (Figure 14)

Primary reasons cited were large cost increases in health insurance for both retirees and active employees (Figure 15) 41 percent of sponsors with bargaining unit employees reported decrease in or elimination of firm's share of health care costs for future retirees (Figure 14) 26 percent reported no change Primary reason cited was match/maintain parity with competitor’s benefits package (Figure 16)

Retiree Health Care Represents a Significant Liability for DB Plan Sponsors

Large DB Plan Sponsor Survey: Conditions to Consider Forming New DB Plans

Most sponsors reported no possible conditions that could make

them definitely consider forming a new DB plan 26 percent of sponsors reported that there were conditions under which they would have considered offering a new DB plan; the most common conditions selected were: Provide sponsors with greater scope in accounting for DB plans on corporate balance sheets DB plans became more effective as an employee retention Reduced unpredictability or volatility in DB plan funding requirements (Figure 17)

Implications/Concluding Observations

Stability of large sponsor plans now increasingly vulnerable to

Appendix II: Scope and Methodology

To achieve our objectives, we conducted a survey of sponsors of large defined-benefit (DB) pension plans. For the purposes of our study, we defined “sponsors” as the listed sponsor on the 2004 Form 5500 for the largest sponsored plan (by total participants). To identify all plans for a given sponsor, we matched plans through unique sponsor identifiers.

Population and Sample Design

We constructed our population of DB plan sponsors from the 2004 Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Form 5500 Research Database by identifying unique sponsors listed in this database and aggregating plan- level data (for example, plan participants) for any plans associated with this sponsor. As a result of this process, we identified approximately 23,500 plan sponsors. We further limited these sponsors to the largest sponsors (by total participants in all sponsored plans) that also appeared on the Fortune 500 or Fortune Global 500 lists. We initially attempted to administer the survey to the first 100 plans that met these criteria, but ultimately, we were only able administer the survey to the 94 sponsoring firms for which we were able to obtain sufficient information for the firm’s benefits representative. While the 94 firms we identified for the survey are an extremely small subset of the approximately 23,500 total DB plan sponsors in the research database, we estimate that these 94 sponsors represented 50 percent of the total single-employer liabilities insured by PBGC and 39 percent of the total participants (active, retired, and separated-vested) in the single-employer DB system as of 2004.

Administration of Survey

The Web-based questionnaire was sent in December 2007, via e-mail, to the 94 sponsors of the largest DB pension plans (by total plan participants as of 2004) who were also part of the Fortune 500 or Global Fortune 500. This was preceded by an e-mail to notify respondents of the survey and to test our e-mail addresses for these respondents. This Web questionnaire consisted of 105 questions and covered a broad range of areas, including the status of current DB plans; the status of frozen plans (if any) and the status of the largest frozen plan (if applicable); health care for active employees and retirees; pension and other benefit practices or changes over approximately the last 10 years and the reasons for those changes (parallel questions asked for plans covering collectively bargained employees and those covering nonbargaining employees); prospective benefit plan changes; the influence of laws and accounting practices on possible prospective benefit changes; and opinions about the possible formation of a new DB plan.

The first 17 questions and last question of the GAO Survey of Sponsors of Large Defined Benefit Pension Plans questionnaire mirrored the questions asked in a shorter mail questionnaire (Survey of DB Pension Plan Sponsors Regarding Frozen Plans) about benefit freezes that was sent to a stratified random sample of pension plan sponsors that had 100 or more participants as of 2004. Sponsors in the larger survey were, like the shorter survey, asked to report only on their single-employer DB plans.

To help increase our response rate, we sent four follow-up e-mails from January through November 2008. We ultimately received responses from 44 plan sponsors, representing an overall response rate of 44 percent.

To pretest the questionnaires, we conducted cognitive interviews and held debriefing sessions with 11 pension plan sponsors. Three pretests were conducted in-person and focused on the Web survey, and eight were conducted by telephone and focused on the mail survey. We selected respondents to represent a variety of sponsor sizes and industry types, including a law firm, an electronics company, a defense contractor, a bank, and a university medical center, among others. We conducted these pretests to determine if the questions were burdensome, understandable, and measured what we intended. On the basis of the feedback from the pretests, we modified the questions as appropriate.

Nonsampling Error

The practical difficulties of conducting any survey may introduce other types of errors, commonly referred to as nonsampling errors. For example, differences in how a particular question is interpreted, the sources of information available to respondents, or the types of people who do not respond can introduce unwanted variability into the survey results. We included steps in both the data collection and data analysis stages for the purpose of minimizing such nonsampling errors.

We took the following steps to increase the response rate: developing the questionnaire, pretesting the questionnaires with pension plan sponsors, and conducting multiple follow-ups to encourage responses to the survey.

We performed computer analyses of the sample data to identify inconsistencies and other indications of error and took steps to correct inconsistencies or errors. A second, independent analyst checked all computer analyses.

We initiated our audit work in April 2006. We issued results from our survey regarding frozen plans in July 2008. We completed our audit work for this report in March 2009 in accordance with all sections of GAO’s Quality Assurance Framework that are relevant to our objectives. The framework requires that we plan and perform the engagement to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence to meet our stated objectives and to discuss any limitations in our work. We believe that the information and data obtained, and the analysis conducted, provide a reasonable basis for any findings and conclusions.

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

Contact

Barbara D. Bovbjerg, (202) 512-7215 or bovbjergb@gao.gov.

Staff Acknowledgments

In addition to the contact above, Joe Applebaum, Sue Bernstein, Beth Bowditch, Charles Ford, Brian Friedman, Charles Jeszeck, Isabella Johnson, Gene Kuehneman, Marietta Mayfield, Luann Moy, Mark Ramage, Ken Stockbridge, Melissa Swearingen, Walter Vance, and Craig Winslow made important contributions to this report.