Google, Apple

While Google Inc. and Apple Inc. ranked in the top half, other tech giants such as Facebook, Amazon.com, Yahoo! Inc. and Oracle lagged. One reason such companies scrimp on 401(k) plans is that some highly skilled employees share in stock ownership.

Until this year, Facebook didn’t offer any match. When Bloomberg contacted Facebook in February about its 401(k) plan, the social media company disclosed it was soon going to provide matching contributions. This April, the company started making contributions of 50 cents on the dollar––retroactive to Jan. 1––up to a maximum 3.5 percent benefit for employees who save 7 percent of their salaries.

“Although Facebook is a young company, we take a comprehensive approach to the benefits we offer all our people, which include a robust 401(k) match as well as other retirement benefits,” Renee Whitney, Facebook’s benefits manager, said in an e-mail.

Amazon, Oracle

Amazon, based in Seattle, matches up to 2 percent of employees’ salaries if they contribute 4 percent. Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, provides one-fourth of workers’ contributions, or a maximum of $4,375, for those who save the $17,500 pretax income they’re currently allowed to set aside annually in a 401(k) plan by the Internal Revenue Service. (Workers aged 50 or older can contribute another $5,500 annually, for a total of $23,000.)

Oracle workers who leave within four years can’t fully transfer the company’s 401(k) matching funds. Oracle, based in Redwood City, California, saved more than $3 million in company contributions in 2012 because employees left prior to vesting, government filings show.

Spokesmen for Amazon, Yahoo and Oracle declined to comment.

Ranking Criteria

Bloomberg’s ranking gave the most weight to the matching contribution, which financial experts say is the biggest factor in determining the size of an employee’s nest egg.

Companies also received a boost if they provided additional contributions, offered low-cost index funds, allowed employees to vest immediately, and made matching payments each payroll period rather than delaying until the end of the year.

Bloomberg excluded 10 companies because they couldn’t be assigned an appropriate score. Some, like Berkshire Hathaway Inc., provide different 401(k) plans at multiple subsidiaries. Others don’t match employee contributions -- a key criterion in the rankings -- yet compensate in other ways. Intel Corp., for example, doesn’t have a match but puts six percent of each employee’s salary into his or her 401(k), whether the worker contributes or not.
“We’re proud at Intel of the fact that we can deliver a certain level of retirement readiness to employees regardless of their ability to save, through our use of a fixed-employer contribution in lieu of a match,” said Chris Kraeuter, a spokesman.