Tesla gives its employees a boost

The automaker reported in its 10-K that it has begun to match employees' 401(k) contributions.

Tesla Inc. has started to make matching contributions in its 401(k) plan, effective in January.

In its 10-K filing, the Palo Alto, California-based automaker said that in January, it began matching 50% of employees’ contributions to the company’s 401(k) plan up to a maximum of 6% of the employee’s eligible compensation, capped at $3,000. Employees are vested in the plan after one year of service.

The news was first reported by Pensions & Investments.

Tesla had not made any contributions to the 401(k) plan in 2019, 2020 or 2021, according to the 10-K filing.

The company’s previous approach of not providing a match is followed by only a small fraction of the companies that offer defined-contribution plans. According to Vanguard’s 2021 How America Saves report, only 4% of its record-keeping clients didn’t make contributions of any kind to their retirement plans.