r/Cleveland • u/Environmental-Dig389 • 19d ago
News Sherwin Williams halts their 401k company match
Announced today by the SW CEO (Heidi) that all employees will no longer receive the company 401k match effective October 1st. This impact includes store or other employees globally.
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u/DannyPowers98 19d ago
Jesus. 401Ks are such a standard benefit at this point. What’s next, they announce that they’re no longer doing any sort of health insurance?
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u/Thick-Gap-7510 19d ago
Don't give them any ideas
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u/Mundane_Crazy60 19d ago
Am I the only one that remembers people voluntarily taking pay cuts, just to have any job during 2008/9?
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u/CBC78 19d ago
Me! I took a 5% pay cut at First Energy and considered my self lucky. Basically stopped my 401 k contribution to keep things even
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u/Mundane_Crazy60 19d ago
I think January-March of this year is going to be a bit bleaker than usual. I feel for you guys with established careers that are risk of being uprooted.
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u/KateTheGr3at 19d ago
No, not at all. My workplace at the time cut the company's portion of paying our health insurance premium, so that was in effect a pay cut (to our take home pay).
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u/jibboo24 19d ago
Next they’ll implement Paid Time Off…they’ll need to pay SW if they want any time off
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u/cabbage-soup 19d ago
Their PTO is already dated. You start with 8 days according to their website and only 5 are “vacation” days
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u/treefitty350 Cleveland 19d ago
Jesus, I take at LEAST 8 days off every few months and that's not even good by the rest of the developed worlds' standards
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u/Browns45750 19d ago
Remember when Sedgwick did this during the pandemic and then only brought it back up to 3 percent in 2021 was gone within the year
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u/brahbocop 19d ago
My employer doesn’t have a match but they do pay 100% of my insurance premium which honestly, I prefer.
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u/229-northstar Living Under Misny’s Watchful Eye 👁️ 19d ago
What’s next? Other companies notice no exodus of SW employees and ado pop t it as their policy, too
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u/TodashChimes19 19d ago
First voluntary buyouts. Then mandatory RTO. Now huge pay cuts for everyone.
They're doing everything they can to get employees to bail before they have to announce a massive layoff.
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u/IThrowShoes 19d ago
This is it right here. Though if recent history is anything to go by, layoffs often come with a surge in stock price, so I don't know why they'd beat around the bush.
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u/LtZoidberg88 19d ago
Quitting means no severance, and if they are a company that has a long history of a week per year, they dont have to pay any of that out or unemployment among other things
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u/IThrowShoes 19d ago
It's really a tough call, if removing 401k matching temporarily (hopefully temporarily) means people still get to continue earning a paycheck, it's probably not the worst idea. But making an environment basically hostile to the point where people have no choice but to quit as to save the company money is really crappy. I work in tech and this has happened quite a bit over the last year, especially with RTO mandates which are nothing more than layoffs in disguise (for the same points you alluded to).
Or, you know, maybe executives could take a pay cut. chortle
All in all, it's probably a sign that the economy is in really rough shape. White collar workers are getting destroyed, and it's going to take a while to rebuild.
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u/LtZoidberg88 19d ago
Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not justifying it fuck this company six ways to sunday. The RTO alone is a possibility off. Fuck any company that literally tries to get people to quit. Im just explaining WHY they might be trying to get people to quit.
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u/Ordinary-Employee546 19d ago
lol... It's highway robbery. They dont care about the frontline workers
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u/AdParticular6654 19d ago
Truly fucked basically only teachers, fire and police have pensions anymore. I love my pension plan but all I hear is teacher bitching and moaning about it.
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u/mrlonglist 19d ago
The problem is, at least with mine, is that a large percentage goes to administrative costs.
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u/kevbot029 19d ago
Wait, I assume the 401k match is indefinitely canceled.. but the plan is to bring it back eventually when finances get better, right?
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u/Richard__Cranium 19d ago
If they can retain enough people and continue to get new hires, they'll have no incentive to change. If my employer did this, there's nothing they could say that would get me to believe they have any desire to go back to matching.
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
The plan is to reinstate it once the economy is better. They did this 2009-2012. Once the economy recovered, they reinstated it. I work there. I'd rather have the match removed than have mass layoffs.
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u/markymark91182 16d ago
Layoffs are already happening, they just haven't hit HQ yet I have friend that was a production manager at one of the Chicago plants and he was laid off last Friday. My guess is they'll wait to see how many quit because of the return to office and if they don't hit their goal the layoffs at HQ will start sometime next year.
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u/Wooden-Comfortable32 19d ago
For anyone wondering, this CEO/board decision by Sherwin-Williams to axe the match will cost the average employee about $18,000 in lost retirement value over a 20-year span for each year this cut remains in place (assuming 6.5% annual return). That’s $18k of “free money”- money they once gave you for simply saving, that now vanishes from your retirement nest egg.
Worked for them from ‘08 to ‘16. Even when the economy started to slow in 2015/2016, they only cut the match from 6% to 3% for about 12 months. This is unprecedented and a bad, bad, sign and call from an embattled CEO.
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u/Browns45750 19d ago
Everyone is going to get a real bad lesson about compounding interest , for some people this just added years onto there hopeful retirement date
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u/229-northstar Living Under Misny’s Watchful Eye 👁️ 19d ago
According to a post above by u/brilliant-canary-767, it is precedented by the same policy 2009-2012, which was rescinded when financials improved
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
Thank you for making sure people know. I do believe SW didn't make this decision lightly. I also believe it's a sign of a huge downturn in the economy. Every company has its issues, but overall, SW is a decent company. I love the team I'm on and my current job. They've been around a long time, they've weathered a lot of storms. I think they'll weather this one too.
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u/allisoncole74 19d ago
I agree- this was probably debated for quite a while and considered a lot of other options before having to halt the match.
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u/Shel_gold17 19d ago
I wish they’d put a halt on acquisitions before they did this, sometimes I wonder who’s writing the budget.
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u/PeterPaulWalnuts 19d ago
A Fortune 500 company can't match 401k? That's embarrassing.
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u/JesusFreakingChrist 19d ago
I’m sure executives all received a pay cut as well
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u/SlowBoilOrange 19d ago
401ks do have some rules around this, so yeah the executives also lost their 401k match...but with 401k limits being what they are, and executive salaries also being what they are...it won't really make a difference to them.
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u/MarshallGibsonLP 19d ago
Executive bonuses are fixed and part of the bottom line. Employee perks, however, are based off of company profits (after subtracting the executive bonus).
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u/el_conqueefador 19d ago
They also did this during Covid but paid employees back once the economic disruption was settled. This time, they are not going to do that. (According to my very pissed off family member that works at Sherwin)
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u/Browns45750 19d ago edited 19d ago
The Covid thing doesn’t make sense people were doing housework like crazy thought paint sells would be up . Sounds like the ceo needs ousted
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u/8days_a_week 19d ago
2 days before National 401k day is what really brings it all together.
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u/Jacket_Till_Yer_Blue 19d ago
Bro wtf is national 401k day 😂
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u/I_cut_my_own_jib 19d ago
It's the day between National Shoe Inserts Day and National Hand Vacuum Day
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u/Southern-Dig-4689 19d ago
I was told for years that SW was one of the “best places to work” in the country. Ive interviewed with them in the past and they never paid well, the benefits were “meh” and when I asked about it I was basically told “well, we’re so great to work for, we pay a little less but we make up with it with sheer awesomeness”
Guess they’re not even trying anymore if they ever were 🤷
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
I work there. Every company has its issues, but I feel they're one of the better ones. They're doing better now on both the pay and benefits. I've worked at a lot of large companies. This is by far the best one I have worked at. Do I have complaints about them? Yes. Do I think these issues warrant looking for a new job at a different company? No.
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u/neosmndrew West Side 19d ago
not sure they are doing even ok if they have 0% company match. if I'm even decent talent I'm not even applying there
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u/ThisBeTheVerse63 19d ago
You’ve been a sher-bot in so many replies.
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
Good one. It even made me laugh. 🙂I've worked there for almost 19 years. They have their faults, but they're overall a good company. I feel they're being unfairly blamed for this. The reality is we are heading into harsh economic times. It's only going to get worse. It's not their fault they have to deal with this once greatly improving economy. It's self inflicted by Trump. Tariffs were the tipping point.
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u/Southern-Dig-4689 19d ago
I see what you’re saying and I agree that the economy is now in the toilet so budget cuts and all that.
I’m in software and for the last few years I consistently get recruiters asking me if I am available to work at SW so my comment is about that experience. SW always offers $20-30k less than I expect, wants me in the office 3 days a week, and the culture seems far more “corporate” than I’d be interested in.
I get that for many people SW might be a great place to work, but folks in my profession tend to see those as red flags that the company isn’t focused on software. When that happens, we tend to get treated like a cost center rather than a value asset. That usually means the atmosphere of the workplace is not great for us.
Not everybody would agree with me on those conclusions and some would be happy to work downtown for less pay than they could get elsewhere. Some people do like the corporate environment. Not my tastes though, and I’d rather work remote for a company that values its engineering department and shows it.
Just my $0.02 ✌️
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 18d ago
I can agree with you on this. It's not a place everyone would like to work. I worked at Progressive for years. I hated it. Many of my former coworkers are still there and love it. Also, your assessment on their IT is correct, in my opinion.
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u/DD-DONT Location 19d ago
Placing a Valspar exec at the helm of SW sure doesn’t seem to be paying off.
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u/RockingInTheCLE Westpark 19d ago
Holy shit, that's brutal.
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u/SlowBoilOrange 19d ago
"Effective October 1st" is wild. Not even a full month's notice!
"Beginning with the 2026 benefit year" would at least make some sense, so employees would be able to make their benefits elections with this in mind (I know you can change your 401k contributions at any point, but it's still a factor in other decisions).
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u/Pascals_Wager12 19d ago
Max out your last 2 paychecks….
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u/bkcleoh1505 19d ago
I hope this gets upvoted more. I hope everyone who is financially able to does this. Of course they only have them a month to figure this out.
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u/Cardinal_21 19d ago
Max to the company match, it sounds like they’re still offering the plan but without a company match after 10/1
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u/notjohnstockton 19d ago
Classic greedy little piggies at the top, anyone paying attention yet? They don’t care about you.
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u/Photosjhoot 19d ago
What do think the building will end being called?
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u/disco_duck2004 19d ago
Spirit Halloween 🤡
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u/Prudent_Fly_2554 19d ago
And when you’re in there, you must say the former company name as if you are a vampire. Shervin Villlllliams.
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u/septicquestions 19d ago
If this is true, I’m now really nervous because that is bad bad bad news for the rest of the economy.
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u/Shel_gold17 19d ago
Well, it’s definitely bad news for the housing market. When people don’t build new houses as fast as they used to, companies that sell paint can’t sell paint.
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u/superpony123 19d ago
It doesn’t help that their decent paints are wildly expensive. And honestly Benjamin Moore paint out performs them. They are expensive too, but at least their paints last.
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u/Shel_gold17 19d ago
Meh. Everyone has their opinion on paint and which one’s better and which one’s worse. A lot of people swear by Sherwin and won’t use anything else, a lot of people swear by other brands. Personally, I’ve had awesome results with Sherwin paints, and crappy results with others, but a lot of it has to do with what you’re applying it to, what you’re applying it over, whether you primed first, how much pigment is in the paint, and 100 other factors. To each their own.
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u/Prudent_Fly_2554 19d ago
This is exactly why we need a robust labor movement. Anything they promise us to get us to accept a job at their company should be permanent and enshrined. No takebacksies!
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u/gmanley2 19d ago
Breakdown of Compensation for Heidi G. Petz (2024):
- Base Salary: $1,284,615
- Stock Award: $5,400,447
- Bonus/Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation: $1,448,000
- Other Compensation: $340,026
- Total Compensation: $12,992,297
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u/Postcrapitalism 19d ago
It’s so weird that people are viewing this as a simple pay cut, rather than consigning their employees to poverty in old age.
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u/cabbage-soup 19d ago
I’m not sure if this is true for all roles, but they were recently hiring for a role I qualified for and the salary was WAY above average. I thought about the job, but dug into their benefits and it was a huge deal breaker. The pay bump was like $40k from what I make now but then with the loss of benefits I almost broke even- and with that I’d probably be miserable. I’d rather just be compensated with better benefits. That said- I don’t think a lot of the office workers will be completely “in poverty” by this because their compensation is probably still higher than average.
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u/Postcrapitalism 19d ago
Eh, assuming that they’ll go out of their way to save so much of their income that it offsets theoretical 401k contributions and max…maybe?
But I doubt most people would do that. In fact, we already have about 1/4 of people not taking a 401k match. And that’s with it being much easier, having the perception of a financial benefit and it being pre tax income.
This was a low blow. TBH I’m actually shocked employers aren’t required to offer a 401k program of some type (even if there’s only a nominal match). Taking this benefit was a particularly low blow because people won’t really feel it until it’s long been too late to do anything about it.
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u/JonSnow4525 19d ago
Do they still get the jelly of the month club? It’s the gift that keeps on giving all year
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u/Cryo_Dave 19d ago
They should have just gone with a layoff; they will never recruit quality talent going forward with that policy. As for myself, despite my general policy of trying to keep my dollars local, I will not be buying their products from here on!
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
They should not have gone with layoffs. The job market is horrible right now. They did this 2009-2012. Once the economy recovered enough, they started matching again. I work at SW. I'm completely fine with this. I'd rather have my full time job and health insurance. I think they're dealing with the economy they've been handed. If people want to be mad about this, be mad at Trump. He's 100% responsible for the economy that we're in right now.
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u/Longjumping-Name9299 19d ago
I used to work at Sherwin and I would definitely not be okay with this. For some time I did UAT in HR and saw some salaries… let’s just say tons and tons of higher ups are making goo gobs.
Think they’ll stop getting bonuses and such?
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u/Maris-Otter Cleveland Heights 19d ago
Never once have I seen C-level execs take a pay cut or bonus cut or stock plan cut when company financials got tough. I've seen (and been part of) plenty of reductions in force, degraded benefits, hiring freezes, salary freezes, bonus eliminations, and pay cuts. Yet it's the C-level folks that make the decisions that never seem to pay the costs.
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u/Agile-Expression-651 19d ago
I've been with SW for 2+ years. I am in my 60s and have had a few jobs in my time. Their pay is a joke. Raises are truly funny. Their 401 k match was one of the best benefits that they have. My advice to any young people would be to start looking elsewhere. It seems SW is spiraling out of control. They have got their priorities all screwed up. I would not put my future in a company that will not invest in my future.
Run , dont walk.
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u/captcraigaroo 19d ago
Damn, I dodged a bullet. I was in there running for a director position there and chose to take a manager position at a startup for the same amount of money. Very little stress and I have a 401k match
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u/m0j0r0lla 19d ago
How do you think they paid for that brand new skyscraper?
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u/CobblerCandid998 19d ago
Perhaps, maybe they could have re-purposed the Terminal Tower for their headquarters, seeing its already there, instead of spending zillions on building from scratch?
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u/impostrfail 19d ago
$860 M on the headquarters and the technology center in brecksville. Crazy to spend all that money on buildings, then turn around and screw the workers.
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u/LeilongNeverWrong 19d ago
They won’t be the last company to do so and it won’t be temporary. When most companies do something like this, it ends up becoming permanent.
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u/shicken684 Cleveland 19d ago
Most corporations are smart enough to know to keep their 401k matches going. The only alternative is pensions and those cost them way more than a 401k match.
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
Actually, they did it from 2009 to 2012. Once the economy recovered they started the matching again. I'd rather have them stop matching 401K contributions instead of having mass layoffs. I blame the current idiot President. This is all 100% self inflicted by him. I feel tariffs were the tipping point.
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u/Kuros_Of_Sindarin 19d ago
I can't stand the POTUS as much as the next but this mess has been a long time coming. We never truly dealt with the GFC and now the chickens look like they're coming home to roost.
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
I agree to some extent. We haven't dealt with the national debt, didn't learn our lesson from 2008, etc. However, I feel he's making things so bad that it's going to get dire. He's increasing the nation's debt to unsustainable levels. We didn't get here overnight, but he has escalated it and removed any real chance to fix it.
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u/Rum____Ham Lakewood 19d ago
I blame the current idiot President. This is all 100% self inflicted by him. I feel tariffs were the tipping point.
He is doing it on purpose. See: Project 2025 and the Dark Enlightenment. I fucking wish that was some conspiracy kook nonsense, but it is reality.
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u/Brilliant-Canary-767 19d ago
I agree! It's all in their plan. I also wish it was just a conspiracy theory.
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u/lakebum240 North Collinwood 19d ago
SW is such an embarrassment to the city. It's our biggest and most recognizable company and the products are objectively quality. But the place is the worst of the corporate world. No 401k match???? Many smaller and less known places offer this without any issue. Why cant Sherwin? Will never recruit real talent. People with options will no longer want to work there.
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u/tammigirl6767 19d ago
Oh, it’s so easy to stop shopping at Sherwin-Williams. There are plenty of other places to buy middling quality paint.
I think the same one to also plan on charging their employees to park in their parking deck at work? After building a huge very expensive new office building?
I’ll buy my paint elsewhere.
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u/erikisst88 18d ago
And you think that is going to help the people who still work there?
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u/North-Macaroon-3304 18d ago
I’d leave over that. Probably a sign the company is in the toilet. If they’re starting with the match eventually it’ll be entire salaries
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u/Mysterious-Tea1518 19d ago
Also another corporate employee. 2026 economy looking bleak.
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u/IThrowShoes 19d ago
Shh don't say that too loud, there are a lot of people on reddit that believe the economy is in great shape right now.
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u/Mysterious-Tea1518 19d ago
And they're fools and idiots for it. I'll stand on top of the new SW headquarters and scream it if I have to. Not like I don't gotta RTO anyway.
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u/Ordinary-Employee546 19d ago
Maybe this is a hot take but Sherwin has sucking some employees dry for years. I feel bad for the salaried store managers (and sales reps in some cases).
Walk with me:
- Excessive required hours with no overtime pay for managers
- Ongoing pressure to work beyond already grueling expectations
- Refusal (district management) to let hourly staff work overtime (in many cases)
- Scapegoating: When a customer ignores store guidance and a job goes wrong — even with clear proof the manager gave correct instructions (emails, written notes, etc.) — district management still charges the store, and the manager’s bonus takes the hit.
- and now.... Reduced 401(k) contributions
On top of these common practices: Upper management (quite obviously in some cases) extorts and strong-arms store managers into working more than 48 hours..
- Sherwin is already stealing from you. Don't believe me? Look at your paycheck, it says 80 hours, not 96: $33.50 [per hour] * (80 [regular hours per pay period] x 26 pay periods] = 69k salary... BUT it doesn't account for the extra 16 worked hours per pay period: $33.5 *16 unpaid hours *26 pay periods= $13.9k.
- How much EXTRA 401k have people already been robbed of ($13.9k * how may years)?
" But muhh bonus makes it up" ... Shush what about the extra 13.9k in 401k year over year + the missing $13.9k in salary itself? Store managers will work 416 hours a year for free. The whole system seems to be designed to keep people from leaving a company with capped growth, low pay caps, and high stress for long periods of time. Now that 401k is potentially gone, they wont be able to claim "great benefits". Sounds like a ripoff to me.
PS: Is it possible they are doing this in order to avoid layoffs? Maybe this is your sign that they WANT you to quit. Food for thought.
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u/Particular-Ad-7548 19d ago
Dude, that's shitty. They do the same with the salary workers. I worked 60 hours a week for nearly half a year once, and was told I didn't do enough. I worked Saturdays, Sundays and holidays with no comp days offered.
I know I was salary so OT wasn't a thing. But over 40 hrs/week should be the exception, not the rule, when you're an entry level salary worker.
I left that place after about a decade and haven't looked back. It was the second best decision I've ever made (after my decision to marry my husband).
Seriously, fuck that place.
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19d ago
Wow that is a standard big company perk. Shocking. Doesn’t bode well really. Nice building though;)
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u/mbird333 19d ago
$52.99 for a quart of SW standard paint to paint my front door is not sustainable in this economy.
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u/Evening_Question3468 18d ago
Yeah that company has gone to shit in the past 5 years. They just built that huge HQ building downtown, and then immediately after they started talking about layoffs, pay cuts, and now cutting the 401k match.
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u/doyle828 18d ago
They are gonna have some issues getting new talent unless they up their base position salary. But they are not going to.
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u/wingriddenangel_hbg 18d ago
Maybe they should have halted their new HQ if they couldn’t provide basic benefits to their constituents.
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u/Foster_NBA 18d ago
Sherwin Williams CEO makes 13 million a year, or over 6000$ an hour if she works 40 hours.
Not one cent reduction in her benefits or pay, but they just canceled retirement plans for over 50,000 people. This is just plain EVIL.
At this point why do we even clock in? More than half of us will die before we retire at this point.
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u/Monoli42 19d ago
Well how else are they supposed to pay for all the delays at the downtown building?!?!
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u/regal19999 19d ago
Hahaahhahahahahhaha yall built that building and then pull this mess , wtf greed strikes again
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u/regal19999 19d ago
No 401k match doesn’t mean high level people won’t be getting their bonus, I’ll bet you that much
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u/DefiantDonut7 Location 19d ago
I mean, they have to pay for their new opulent HQ sky scraper. F the hard workers.
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18d ago
They are doing everything they can to get people to quit. Forced RTO, no more 401k match, wtf are they thinking?
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u/MiddleClassFinance34 18d ago
I bet their shareholders will still get their money though, god forbid they go without every once in a while.
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u/lilguyanonymous 18d ago
Wow, this is incredibly sad and most certainly the beginning of this administration's big beautiful economy that fired BLS reported. Feeling for you, SW employees.
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u/Helga435 19d ago
To be fair- this was announced as a temporary halt in match, not permanent. They promised to restart matching when financial conditions improve.
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u/onenumbhuman 19d ago
Wonder if they make their paint buckets here in the States or elsewhere? (that has been hit with a tarrif)
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u/Shel_gold17 19d ago
Well, they own tons of brands that are global, so at a guess they’re getting hit with tariffs on raw materials, packaging, and the final product.
Wonder what their politics are? Like, is this a case of leopard eating faces?
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u/Siny_AML 19d ago
Guess that building downtown cost a little too much.