--- title: EBRI Webinar Examines Impact of Tenure on Retirement Savings description: On April 10th, EBRI featured the webinar Trends in Employee Tenure, showcasing EBRI research examining the impact that shorter tenure can have on retirement savings. image: https://blog.rch1.com/hubfs/Figure%20One%20EBRI%20Tenure%20Webinar.png --- [![Retirement Clearinghouse Logo](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Retirement_Clearinghouse_May2022/images/logo.png?width=1000&height=648&name=logo.png "Retirement Clearinghouse Logo")](https://rch1.com/) [Privacy Policy](https://securities.rch1.com/common/PrivacyStatement.pdf) [Sponsors/Service Providers](https://rch1.com/plan-sponsors) [Individuals](https://rch1.com/individuals) [Login](https://rch1.com/#) - [Home](https://rch1.com/home-page) - [Individuals](https://rch1.com/individuals) - [Individuals Home](https://rch1.com/individuals/individuals-home) - [Who is RCH?](https://rch1.com/individuals/who-is-rch) - [Why Does RCH Have My Retirement Savings?](https://rch1.com/individuals/why-does-rch-have-my-retirement-funds) - 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The webinar’s presenters included Craig Copeland, Senior Research Associate, EBRI and Spencer Williams, President & CEO, Retirement Clearinghouse (RCH), and was moderated by Stacy Schaus, Founder & CEO, Schaus Group LLC. **Craig Copeland on Tenure Trends** Leading off, EBRI’s Copeland detailed the latest trends in employee tenure using data from the [U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html), which covers 1983 to present. Copeland’s presentation immediately dispelled two commonly-held myths regarding employee tenure: 1) that a large percentage of individuals hold a “career job” and 2) that tenure tends to be shorter when the labor market is weakest. Copeland’s data also revealed two important findings linking tenure to retirement savings: - Account balance size is strongly correlated to tenure. The EBRI/ICI 401(k) Plan Database reveals that 28% of active participants with a balance less than $5,000 in 2012 were not in the same plan in 2013, whereas that figure dropped to 21% for participants with a balance between $5,000-$9,999 and to 17% for those with balances $20,000 or more. - The average and median balances of “consistent 401(k) plan participants” – which includes participation across retirement plans – were significantly higher than the values for all participants. Copeland summarized the impact of shorter tenure on retirement as follows: - Shorter tenure equals more turnover and more jobs during workers’ careers - More turnover results in an increased incidence of cashout leakage - If retirement savings are stranded in a prior plan, coordination with new plan savings may not occur - Continuous participation in a plan has a large impact on the resulting savings amounts **Spencer Williams Introduces “Synthetic Tenure”** RCH’s Spencer Williams then introduced a new concept – “synthetic tenure” – whereby enhancing system-wide portability, particularly for small accounts, enables participants to preserve their savings through job changes, mirroring the success of EBRI’s longer-tenured, consistent participation population. Making the case for synthetic tenure, Williams presented composite cashout leakage statistics, indicating that the preponderance of today’s cashout leakage occurs for job-changing participants with plan account balances less than $5,000. Next, applying EBRI tenure data, Williams illustrated two scenarios for a 25-34 year-old participant, whose average tenure is less than 3 years, and will likely have 3 jobs during that period in their life. - Without portability, the hypothetical participant will likely cash out two of their three small-balance retirement accounts and leave the third stranded with their prior employer, resulting in $13,300 in retirement savings at age 65. - With portability, the average participant would likely preserve those three balances, rolling them forward into their new employer’s plan. By contrast, they would have a $75,900 balance at retirement, an amount which would simulate the outcomes of the higher-tenured, consistent participation population. **Figure One**: Synthetic Tenure Illustration ![Figure One EBRI Tenure Webinar](https://blog.rch1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Figure%20One%20EBRI%20Tenure%20Webinar.png?width=600&name=Figure%20One%20EBRI%20Tenure%20Webinar.png) Once again referencing EBRI research, Williams noted that in 2017, EBRI estimated that system-wide [auto portability](https://rch1.com/auto-portability) would dramatically reduce leakage for small accounts, preserving more than $1.5 trillion in the retirement savings, in today’s dollars. In closing, Williams also noted that auto portability, once adopted, could lead to a dramatic reduction in the incidence of [missing participants](https://blog.rch1.com/blog/topic/missing-participants) by 1) consolidating accounts as participants change jobs and 2) providing a source of more-reliable current address information, when a participant’s current-employer’s plan can be located and accessed for address information. 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