Part 3: Retirement Plans

Note: This is a printed version of https://employeehelp.workday.uw.edu/your-benefits/newly-eligible/3-retirement. Please visit this page on the ISC website to ensure you're referencing the most current information.

Employee Workday Help

Choosing a Primary Retirement Plan

Your choice of a primary retirement plan is irrevocable: once you’ve enrolled, it cannot be changed. Please be sure to review your options carefully.

Your primary retirement plan choices are determined by your employment program,* as well as whether or not you have prior participation in a given plan(s):

If you do not have any prior employment history with a Washington State agency or another higher education institution in WA, review the Primary Retirement Plan Choices and Enrollment Deadlines table below for the retirement plan choices specific to your employment program.
If you do have prior retirement or worked for another Washington State agency, you will receive a notification in Workday about your retirement plan options.

*Your offer letter should indicate your employment program. If you are not sure of your employment program, speak to your manager or contact HCM Operations.

Primary Retirement Plan Choices and Enrollment Deadlines

Employment Program	Plan Choices	Enrollment Deadline
Professional Staff, Academic Staff, and Librarians	Choose either: UW Retirement Plan (UWRP), a tax-deferred 403(b) plan, much like a 401(k), where you choose the investments, make the required contribution, and receive a matching contribution from UW. -or- Public Employees’ Retirement System Plan 3 (PERS 3), a hybrid plan that combines a traditional pension plan (defined benefit plan) with investments funded by your contributions.	You have 30 days to choose one of the plans in the Plan Choices column. If you do not choose a plan before the 30-day deadline, you will automatically be placed in the default plan, UWRP, at a 0% contribution rate. If/when you later decide to begin participating in UWRP, you will need to contact Fidelity to start having your desired contributions deducted from your paycheck.
Teaching Faculty (as defined in Chapter 21 of the UW Faculty Code)	Choose either: UW Retirement Plan (UWRP), a tax-deferred 403(b) plan, much like a 401(k), where you choose the investments, make the required contribution, and receive a matching contribution from UW. -or- Teachers’ Retirement System Plan 3 (TRS 3), a hybrid plan that combines a traditional pension plan (defined benefit plan) with investments funded by your contributions.	You have 30 days to choose one of the plans in the Plan Choices column. If you do not choose a plan before the 30-day deadline, you will automatically be placed in the default plan, UWRP, at a 0% contribution rate. If/when you later decide to begin participating in UWRP, you will need to contact Fidelity to start having your desired contributions deducted from your paycheck.
Classified Staff and Temporary Hourly Employees	Choose either: Public Employees’ Retirement System Plan 2 (PERS 2), a traditional defined benefit pension plan. -or- Public Employees’ Retirement System Plan 3 (PERS 3), a hybrid plan that combines a traditional pension plan (defined benefit plan) with investments funded by your contributions.	You have 90 days to choose one of the plans in the Plan Choices column. If you do not choose one of the above plans before the 90-day deadline, you will automatically be placed in the default plan, PERS 2.
Commissioned UW Police officers (in a full-time, 100% FTE position)	The Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ Plan 2 (LEOFF 2) is a traditional, defined-benefit pension plan.	N/A – eligible employees are automatically enrolled in the LEOFF 2 plan.

Choosing an Optional Retirement Plan

The UW offers two additional – and entirely optional – ways to save beyond your primary retirement plan or to defer compensation for retirement:

Voluntary Investment Program (VIP) – enroll by contacting Fidelity Investments directly.
Deferred compensation (DCP) – enroll by contacting the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) directly.*

Your choice of optional retirement plan can be changed at any time.

Please note that the enrollment process for either optional retirement plan does not take place in Workday – contact the plan vendor directly, as noted above.

*Some newly-hired full-time employees will receive a letter from DRS about being automatically enrolled. Refer to the DRS’ DCP Automatic Enrollment page for more information.

Proceed to the next section to learn how to submit your benefit enrollments.

Part 4 – Ready to Enroll?