Employers, employees go sloth on Roths

Go up to a group of your employees right now and ask them if they’re interested in a Roth rollover feature for their retirement account. Chances are, you’ll get a few confused glances and a lot of shrugged shoulders.

A recent Mercer survey shows that employees are pretty disinterested in Roth rollover options — and thus, so are employers.

According to the poll of some 300 DC plan sponsors, despite the recently enacted Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act allowing for in-plan Roth conversions, more than half (54%) of respondents say that employees have not asked about the feature.

With such lukewarm interest, Mercer finds that fewer than one-third (31%) of sponsors plan to allow Roth conversions by the end of 2011, and close to one-quarter (24%) plan to add the feature at some undetermined time in the future.
 
Among employers who plan to wait, the majority say they will see what other plan sponsors do (23%) and whether plan participants express interest (37%).

They may be smart to wait — 79% of those currently allowing Roth contributions say that less than 10% of plan participants use the feature.

So, what about you? Is your team or your employees particularly raring to go on Roth rollovers, or are you taking the same steady-as-she-goes approach as the Mercer respondents? Share your thoughts in the comments.