QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP 401(k): Vanguard, match 3% max
Quaker Houghton Retirement Savings Plan · KWR · CIK 81362
Vanguard is the recordkeeper named on the Form 5500 filed for this plan, the company that keeps the account records. Where to log in, and what the filing says.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing.
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
3%
QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP matches 50% of the first 6% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 12, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: what the employer actually paid in · the formula, word for word · when the money becomes yours · who can join · who holds your account · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What QUAKER CHEMICAL puts in, and what the plan costs
What QUAKER CHEMICAL put into the plan, per active participant
$5,846
QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP put $5,846 into this plan for each of its 1,185 active participants in plan year 2024. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
QUAKER CHEMICAL put in more per active participant than 51% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants in pharmaceuticals and chemicals. The middle plan in that group of 156 reported $5,739. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals comes from business code 325900, which QUAKER CHEMICAL entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
What this figure cannot separate: how much QUAKER CHEMICAL pays, and how much it puts in
This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.
This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.
Source: DOL Form 5500 for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, EIN 230993790, plan 112 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $5,846 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,485 a year at a $49,500 salary, and the same filing states employer contributions made outside the match. That second figure is what the formula pays one worker on that salary, and not an amount either filing reports. The two figures cover different plan years and measure different things, so neither one is the other one corrected.
What QUAKER CHEMICAL puts in
$1,485
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“At the discretion of the Retirement Savings Plan Committee, the Plan matches 50% of the first 6% of compensation as defined that is contributed to the Plan, with a maximum matching contribution of 3% of compensation.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 6% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $2,970 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
100 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 48% of the 369 schedules we have scored.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Upon entering the Plan, participants are fully vested in Company matching contributions, Company discretionary non-elective contributions, Company non-discretionary non-elective contributions, and employee deferrals plus actual earnings.”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
76th percentile
$131.01 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 76% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.
What is QUAKER CHEMICAL's 401(k) match formula?
QUAKER CHEMICAL's 401(k) employer match tops out at 3% of pay. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 50% of the first 6% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 3% of compensation |
| Conditions | No Company matching contributions are made with respect to catch-up contributions. |
| Other employer contribution | non-elective non-discretionary contributions on behalf of participants who have completed one year of service equal to 3% of the eligible participant's compensation, as defined |
At a $75,000 salary, contributing 6% ($4,500) earns the full employer match of $2,250 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“At the discretion of the Retirement Savings Plan Committee, the Plan matches 50% of the first 6% of compensation as defined that is contributed to the Plan, with a maximum matching contribution of 3% of compensation.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 12, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What is QUAKER CHEMICAL's 401(k) vesting schedule?
QUAKER CHEMICAL vests the employer match immediately: 100% is yours as soon as it is paid in. Nothing is forfeited when you leave, which is not true of the two schedules that vest over time.
| Employer match vesting | Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Other employer contributions | Participants are fully vested in Company discretionary non-elective contributions and Company non-discretionary non-elective contributions upon entering the Plan. |
Vesting, word for word
“Upon entering the Plan, participants are fully vested in Company matching contributions, Company discretionary non-elective contributions, Company non-discretionary non-elective contributions, and employee deferrals plus actual earnings.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 12, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join QUAKER CHEMICAL's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
QUAKER CHEMICAL's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | on their first day of employment or as soon as administratively practicable thereafter |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | unless specified differently in any bargaining unit agreement |
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“Employees of the Company and adopting affiliates are eligible to participate in the Plan on their first day of employment or as soon as administratively practicable thereafter, unless specified differently in any bargaining unit agreement.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 12, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Vanguard, filed as “THE VANGUARD GROUP, INC.”. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. The trustee that holds the plan’s assets can be a different company, and this filing does not name it.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
2,337 plans on file name Vanguard as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 2,333 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $97.87 per participant.
Participants log in at Vanguard ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Vanguard or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Vanguard |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 231945930 |
What does the QUAKER CHEMICAL plan report on Form 5500?
The QUAKER CHEMICAL plan reported $264.3M in assets and 1,570 participants for plan year 2024.
Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
| Plan named in the DOL record | Quaker Houghton Retirement Savings Plan |
|---|---|
| Total plan assets | $264,315,872 |
| Participants | 1,570 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $131.01 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $131.01 per participant. The median across plans in pharmaceuticals and chemicals is $128.47, from the 870 of 942 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
Read from the Form 5500 filing of Quaker Houghton Retirement Savings Plan, which has no page of its own here.
How does QUAKER CHEMICAL's 401(k) match compare?
QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP's maximum 401(k) match of 3% of pay compares with a median of 4% across the 269 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 2% of pay. Also in pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Vanguard.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Vests immediately too, like QUAKER CHEMICAL.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 12, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
Questions this filing answers
What is QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP's 401(k) match?
Quaker Chemical Corp matches 50% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Who is the recordkeeper for QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP's 401(k)?
Vanguard is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for Quaker Houghton Retirement Savings Plan for plan year 2024. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. Matched to this employer by sponsor name, not by an identifier stated in the filing. This record could cover another plan of the same employer.
Source
The match formula, the vesting schedule and the enrollment rules on this page were read from one document: the Form 11-K annual report that QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Each of those fields carries the filing sentence it was read from, expandable where the field appears. Nothing on this page was supplied by the employer to this site.
The plan assets, the participant counts, the plan-paid fees and the recordkeeper come from a different document, the plan’s DOL Form 5500 annual return, and the section that reports them links it. Comparisons with other employers are computed across the filings named in the section they appear in.
Read the filing on SEC EDGAR ↗
| Document | Form 11-K annual report |
|---|---|
| Filed with | US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) |
| Filed by | QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP |
| SEC CIK | 81362 |
| Accession number | 0001628280-26-042644 |
| Plan | Quaker Houghton Retirement Savings Plan |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 12, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP, with the Securities and Exchange Commission or with this plan’s recordkeeper, and publishes this page without their involvement. It republishes a public filing and says where it came from.
Cite this page
401(k) Monitor, “QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-042644, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
