Insurance Benefit Profile
According to data collected from the ACCE Salary and Benefits Survey, 431 chambers provide the following insurance coverage to their employees:
Employee Medical Insurance Coverage
23% of the chambers offer no help with medical insurance.
34% of the chambers pay an average of 70% of the cost employee medical insurance.
43% of the chambers pay 100% of the cost of medical insurance.
Employee DentalInsurance Coverage
38% of the chambers offer no help with dental insurance.
19% of the chambers pay an average of 64% of the cost employee dental insurance.
43% of the chambers pay 100% of the cost of dental insurance.
Employee Life Insurance Coverage
34% of the chambers offer no help with life insurance.
3% of the chambers pay an average of 62% of the cost employee life insurance.
63% of the chambers pay 100% of the cost of life insurance.
Life Insurance Benefit % of Answering Chambers
1 x Salary10%
1.5 x Salary36%
2 x Salary14%
2.5 x Salary18%
Other (fixed amount)22%
Dependent Medical Insurance Coverage
38% of the chambers offer no help with medical insurance.
20% of the chambers pay an average of 60% of the cost dependent medical insurance.
42% of the chambers pay 100% of the cost of medical insurance.
DependentDentalInsurance Coverage
48% of the chambers offer no help with dental insurance.
13% of the chambers pay an average of 57% of the cost dependent dental insurance.
39% of the chambers pay 100% of the cost of dental insurance.
DependentLife Insurance Coverage
79% of the chambers offer no help with life insurance.
1% of the chambers pay an average of 64% of the cost dependent life insurance.
20% of the chambers pay 100% of the cost of life insurance.
Retirement Benefit Profile
Sample 401(k) Plan Retirement Plan Configurations with Averages from ACCE Plans
The majority of chambers with an ACCE retirement plan have a 401(k) plan which allows employees to save large amounts of money on a pre-tax basis. The 2006 dollar limit for employee pre-tax savings in a qualified 401(k) plan is $15,000, plus an additional catch-up contribution of $5,000 more if you are over 50 years old.
Our chamber 401(k) plans tend to be more generous than the typical 401(k) plan setup today because many of them were started many years ago when employers were much more generous with retirement options. In 80% of our 401(k) plans chambers contribute to their employee’s retirement whether or not the employees contribute. This contribution is called the employer basic contribution or non-elective contribution. An employer matching contribution requires the employee to elect to contribute a percentage of their salary into their retirement account on a pre-tax basis. The chamber will then match some or all of that contribution on that employee’s behalf.
Here are three of the most common configurations of ACCE 401(k) plans witha plan average percentage of the employer’s contributions in each configuration:
(All of these configurations allow employees to contribute pre-tax dollars as described above.)
Configuration 1
401(k) Basic or Non-elective Employer Contributions (Average of 7% of salary)
No matching employer contribution.
With this configuration all employees would receive 7% of salary in employer contributions.
Configuration 2
401(k) Basic or Non-elective Employer Contribution (Average 5% of salary)
Plus
An employer matching contribution up to a specified % of salary (Average 2%).
Here are examples of how this match would work with the employer matching up to 2% of salary:
- If an employee elects to make a pre-tax contribution of 1% of salary, the chamber would match that contribution of 1% of salary.
- If an employee elects to make a pre-tax contribution of 2% of salary the chamber would match that contribution of 2% of salary
- If an employee elects to make a pre-tax contribution of 5% of salary, the chamber would only contribute 2% of salary for the match.
With this configuration the most an employee could receive in employer contributions would be 7% of salary, a 5% basic employer contribution and up to 2% match.
Configuration 3
401(k) match only. Employers match up to a specified % of salary (average 4%).
Here are examples of how this match would work:
- If an employee elects to make a pre-tax contribution of 2% of salary, the chamber would match that contribution of 2% of salary.
- If an employee elects to make a pre-tax contribution of 4% of salary the chamber would match that contribution of 4% of salary
- If an employee elects to make a pre-tax contribution of 6% of salary, the chamber would only contribute 4% of salary for the match.
The most an employee may receive in employer contributions with this plan is 4% of salary. If the employee does not participate in the plan by contributing pre-tax dollars the employerwill not contribute any dollars to this employee’s retirement account.
About 20% of ACCE401(k) plans have more complicated configurations than described above. Please contact us at if you would like more information on setting up a plan configuration that is right for your chamber.