Tulalip Tribes

When Tulalip Tribes of Washington State, a federally-recognized Indian tribe located in the mid-Puget Sound area, began offering automatic enrollment in the employee 401(k) plan, participation rates nearly doubled, increasing from 36% to 71%.

After first introducing automatic 401(k) contributions, Tulalip Tribes was prepared for complaints from their more than 3,500 employees, but were pleasantly surprised that objections never surfaced. Instead, employees were very positive and agreed that they were saving more than they would have without the automatic feature. Tulalip Tribes’ employees realized that they were able to save more, but still have enough money to pay their bills.

The organization further enhanced their automatic enrollment option and implemented automatic escalation. The plan starts with 3% and has an automatic escalation of 1% each year, with a 6% limit. The participation rate has remained over 70% since implementation. Tulalip Tribes also added benefits such as a 3% employer contribution and immediate vesting for all employees.

Tulalip Tribes continues to do what they can to make its automatic retirement plan options an attractive benefit that will help employees reach their retirement goals.