Employee Fiduciary Corp

I chose Employee Fiduciary because they seemed like a reasonable place to start with our very first 401(k) plan. Throughout the process, my bookkeeper always struggled to understand their forms and reporting requirements, so that's the first negative. Recently, we decided to consolidate our service providers and use our payroll processor's 401(k) service. In the process of switching over, Employee Fiduciary noted that we had failed to pay benefits to many of our employees. However, we had been paying the full match for all of our employees who opted into our regular 401(k) with a match up to 4%. The Employee Fiduciary enrollment person had advised me to select the plan where my company contributes whether or not the employee contributed. Furthermore, Employee Fiduciary would neither admit any wrongdoing nor accept any responsibility for its mistake. This cost me $10,000 and an untold number of hours wasted trying to 1) figure this mess out and 2) track down employees who have since moved on to let them know they have $20, $50, $500 in our 401(k). The fact that the company doesn't connect directly to my payroll system is probably the biggest problem and I will never again choose a 401(k) provider that does not also process my payroll. On top of this all, the supervisor and compliance manager that I finally spoke to trying to resolve this did not take the time to listen to the problems and were difficult to work with on a personal level. I'm very glad to have moved on from them.

Use Employee Fiduciary for a small company's 401K program. Very reasonable costs, and all fees for each investment are very clear. Great program for small and mid-size companies. Will work closely with you on testing and program setup.

Strengths: Very low cost, high investment availability choices 401K provider.

Needs to improve: None