Companies stopping 401k matches

Thought I remembered a thread like this. Didn't realize it was so old. From Baton Rouge Business Report:

The Advocate has temporarily stopped contributing to its employees’ retirement plans. In a memo Monday, CFO Ralph Bender—citing “difficult economic times”—told employees that the board of directors has decided to suspend the company match on 401(k) plans. The suspension took effect with the payroll period that ended Friday.

Bender also says the board voted to merge the company’s profit-sharing plan into the 401(k) plan, effective June 30. “It is my hope that when times improve, this will be one of the first decisions we review,” Bender writes in the memo. “Because of you, this company has a long successful history. Thank you for your efforts and understanding.”

The decision is The Advocate’s latest response to the economic downturn that has hit the newspaper industry as a whole. Industry-wide, advertising revenues have fallen an average of 23% in the past two years. A week ago, The Advocate raised prices on home delivery and single-copy sales, and in January ended delivery to the Northshore and Washington Parish. Late last year, it also reduced the number of pages in each daily edition to cut newsprint expenses.

Other newspapers in south Louisiana are taking similar steps. The Livingston Parish News last week increased its prices, and Gannett has made cuts and initiated unpaid employee vacations at its newspapers nationwide, including The Advertiser in Lafayette.

 

So perhaps the bailout effort should be aimed at Social Security which, up until 25 years ago, was the expected line of revenue for retirees.

I'll hold my breath on that one.

 

It's still cheaper to keep COMPETENT, WORTHWHILE people, than to scamble to replace them with Young and Cheap, Bereft Of Institutional Memory.

Chapter 1: Yeah, we're wrapping up the pension plan, but we'll have a 401 (K) matching deal.

Chapter 2: Remember that matching 401 (K), deal? Welllllll . . . up yours, little man.


With, like, no notice, huh, Mort?

Hey, Morty, USN&WR sucked before you owned it -- but it sucks even worse, now.

Classy guy.



Oh, and one more thing, Mort:

Just because you were sufficiently intellectually-lazy enough to go to the craps table with Bernie Madoff
doesn't mean you're justified in taking it out on your employees.

 

You greedy bastards already have Social Security to look forward to. What more do you want?

 

That someone would think this way shows how far down the road we've gone.

 

Scary, isn't it. Next thing you know people are going to want two days off every damn week and overtime for more than a 60-hour week.

 

And I'm not being critical of n_w. I'm assuming he's younger than me -- WAY out on a limb there -- and that's the job culture in which he's been raised.
It has something to do with only 10 percent of the workforce being unionized.

 

I blame Alex Keaton. Seriously, the beginnings of the self-loathing American worker coincided with Ronald Reagan becoming president. The sleight of hand that allowed the defined benefit pension to have its place taken by 401K programs exasperated matters. All of a sudden, employees were cheering on companies that merged and "cut the fat" because, well, it was good for the stockholders.

 

This is beautiful. Just got a letter from corporate at my station. We have an annual 401k contribution match by the company every March. It was to take place next Wednesday for all employees for the entire year of 2008. They just canceled it. I can't believe they can do that. I contribute the most that I possibly can in each paycheck...NEVER would have put in that level of income had I known this was possible. I should have known. I just never imagined it.

 

I haven't even looked at my 401k since at least September.

 

My company just cut 401k matches as well.

 

Remember how some people wanted to privatize social security? Imagine how people's retirement looked if they opted out of social security and went all in on the market and 401ks? Shudder.

Anyway, my company is holding steady at 50 cents for every dollar up to 6 percent.