Williams-Sonoma, Inc. 401(k) Plan: Charles Schwab
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. · San Francisco, CA · EIN 942203880 · Plan 001 · Form 5500 for plan year 2024
Charles Schwab is the recordkeeper named on this filing, the company that keeps the account records for this plan. Where to log in, and who to call.
What Williams-Sonoma put into the plan, per active participant
$573
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. put $573 into this plan for each of its 18,337 active participants in plan year 2024. That is the whole employer side, matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions and reallocated forfeitures together, because the Form 5500 reports them on one line, so it is not the match rate.
Williams-Sonoma put in less per active participant than 57% of plans with 5,000+ participants in retail. The middle plan in that group of 196 reported $700. Retail comes from business code 453990, which Williams-Sonoma, Inc. 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.
What this figure cannot separate: how much Williams-Sonoma 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: Form 5500 filing for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, received by the DOL October 27, 2025 · Read the filing (PDF) ↗
The $573 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula on its own for plan year 2025: the section 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 the plan cost, per participant
$25.81
The plan paid $25.81 per participant in plan-paid administrative expenses in plan year 2024, cheaper than 80% of plans with 5,000+ participants. The middle plan of that size paid $54.84.
Why a plan this big pays less per person before anything else
Bigger plans pay less per head by construction, because the same negotiated bill divides across more people. That is why this ranking sits inside the plan's own size cohort and is never taken across all plans.
Schedule H reports only what came out of plan assets. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees taken inside fund expense ratios, never appear here, so this is a floor and not the all-in cost.
401(k) Monitor Score
54 out of 100
Where this plan stands against plans of its size and industry on two amounts its Form 5500 reports: employer money in per active person, and plan-paid cost per person. It reads no match formula, no vesting schedule and no fund lineup, because a Form 5500 states none of them.
- What the employer put in, per active participant: $573. Lower than 57% of plans with 5,000+ participants in retail.
- What the plan cost, per participant: $25.81. Cheaper than 80% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
On this page: who holds your account · the match and vesting terms · what to check next · every figure on the filing · late deposits · fees itemised · the plans this one is ranked against · service providers
Who holds your account
Schedule C of this filing reports Charles Schwab, filed as “SCHWAB RETIREMENT PLAN SERVICES,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.
769 plans on file name Charles Schwab as their recordkeeper, at a median of $127.09 per participant.
Participants log in at Schwab Workplace ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Charles Schwab or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Charles Schwab |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EINThe provider's own employer identification number, as the filing states it. | 341479833 |
| Plan sponsor telephoneThe number Williams-Sonoma, Inc. filed on the Form 5500. It reaches the employer, not the recordkeeper. | (415) 616-7900 |
The match and vesting terms, from a Form 11-K
The match formula and the vesting schedule are stated in a Form 11-K, which is filed only by employers whose plan holds company stock. A Form 5500 reports neither.
What Williams-Sonoma puts in
$1,485
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“The Company’s matching contribution is equal to 50% of each participant’s eligible salary deferral contribution each pay period, taking into account only those contributions that do not exceed 6% of the participant’s eligible pay. Matching contributions are earned on a semi-annual basis for those associates that are employed with the Company on June 30th or December 31st of the year in which the eligible deferrals are made. Participants who are employed on December 31st of the year may receive a matching contribution true-up. The matching contribution true-up is equal to the difference between the matching contribution the participant would have received if the matching contribution had been calculated on a plan year basis and the matching contribution the participant actually received during the plan year. Full-time associates must complete one year of service, and in addition to the one-year service requirement, part-time, casual and seasonal associates must complete 1,000 hours of service during their first year or any calendar year thereafter, prior to receiving company matching contributions. The Company does not match participants’ rollover and catch-up contributions. The matching contributions are subject to the vesting provisions of the Plan document as described below and are calculated based on eligible associate contributions beginning the first day of each calendar quarter (January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st) on or after the associate's match eligibility date.”
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
85.71 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 47% 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: 0%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Vesting – Participants are immediately 100% vested in their elective deferral contributions, rollover contributions, catch-up contributions and any earnings attributable thereto. All matching contributions and any earnings attributable thereto become vested after one year of service. In addition, Company matching contributions become 100% vested upon a participant’s death, attainment of age 65 or total and permanent disability, in each case while still employed with the Company.”
A worker hired today collects no match for 1 year. This is a filed term, and it does not move the score above.
Eligibility, word for word
“Full-time associates must complete one year of service, and in addition to the one-year service requirement, part-time, casual and seasonal associates must complete 1,000 hours of service during their first year or any calendar year thereafter, prior to receiving company matching contributions.”
The plan tops the match up after year end, so contributing unevenly through the year does not cost the worker part of it.
The same match paragraph, word for word
“The Company’s matching contribution is equal to 50% of each participant’s eligible salary deferral contribution each pay period, taking into account only those contributions that do not exceed 6% of the participant’s eligible pay. Matching contributions are earned on a semi-annual basis for those associates that are employed with the Company on June 30th or December 31st of the year in which the eligible deferrals are made. Participants who are employed on December 31st of the year may receive a matching contribution true-up. The matching contribution true-up is equal to the difference between the matching contribution the participant would have received if the matching contribution had been calculated on a plan year basis and the matching contribution the participant actually received during the plan year. Full-time associates must complete one year of service, and in addition to the one-year service requirement, part-time, casual and seasonal associates must complete 1,000 hours of service during their first year or any calendar year thereafter, prior to receiving company matching contributions. The Company does not match participants’ rollover and catch-up contributions. The matching contributions are subject to the vesting provisions of the Plan document as described below and are calculated based on eligible associate contributions beginning the first day of each calendar quarter (January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st) on or after the associate's match eligibility date.”
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
20th percentile
$25.81 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 80% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
The match, vesting and eligibility terms above are read from the Form 11-K filed by Williams-Sonoma, Inc., whose page states the full formula, the vesting schedule and the sentence behind each one.
What to check next
Collecting the whole match
Williams-Sonoma’s Form 11-K pays the whole match at 6% of pay, which is $1,485 a year at a $49,500 salary and scales with your own. Your payslip and your Schwab Workplace ↗ account both show the rate you set. A rate below 6% collects less than the whole match.
That Form 11-K covers plan year 2025. The plan’s Summary Plan Description states the terms in force, and the plan administrator must provide it to participants on request.
Your own numbers are not on this page
Every figure here is the whole plan for plan year 2024, taken from one filing and divided by headcounts. Your own contribution rate, your balance and the fees taken from your account are on your recordkeeper’s site, which this filing names as Schwab Workplace ↗. What you may put in during a year is set by the IRS and not by the plan: this year’s limits ↗.
Key figures
| Total plan assets, end of year | $797,621,827 |
|---|---|
| Net assets | $797,621,827 |
| Participants, beginning of year | 22,994 |
| Of which active | 18,337 |
| Plan type | Single employer |
| Size cohortThe peer group we rank fees against. | 5,000+ participants |
| Automatic enrollmentForm 5500 line 8a carries a code for automatic enrollment, 2S, and this filing does not tick it. Across this dataset 25,364 plans do. | Not ticked on this filing |
| How the filing meets the 401(k) nondiscrimination rules, plan year 2024Schedule R part VII, as ticked. The rule compares what the higher-paid put in with what everyone else puts in, and the boxes say which method the plan used for this year. A plan can tick a different box next year, so this is an answer for one year, not a label. | Current year ADP test |
| Employer share of the money that went in, plan year 2024The rest came from employees, who put in $35,892,282. The share falls when employees save more, so a plan whose staff contribute heavily reads lower here through no act of the employer. It is printed as a fact and it is not part of the score. | 23% |
Late deposits of employee contributions
Schedule H line 4a of this filing is answered yes, and reports $5,240,299 of money withheld from participants’ pay that reached the plan later than the law allows, for plan year 2024.
Schedule H line 4a asks whether any money withheld from pay reached the plan later than the law allows. A yes here most often means the employer found the delay itself, put the money in along with the earnings it would have made, and reported the correction to the Department of Labor under its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program. The filing instructions also require the same amount to be reported again every year until the year after the correction is finished, so this figure is not necessarily money that was late during this plan year. It does not mean participants lost money.
It is a common answer: 13,904 of the 55,904 plans that answered this line answered yes, and half of them reported less than $33,100.
Plan-paid administrative expenses
The plan paid $593,437 in administrative expenses in plan year 2024, across 22,994 participants: $25.81 per participant.
| Contract administrator fees | not reported in filing |
|---|---|
| Professional fees | not reported in filing |
| Investment management fees | $63,933 |
| Other administrative fees | not reported in filing |
These are plan-paid expenses from Schedule H only. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees embedded in fund expense ratios, never appear here. This figure is a floor, not the all-in cost, and a low number is not “free”.
The plans this one is ranked against
Fees on this page are ranked against the 5,000+ participant cohort, where the median plan pays $54.84 per participant. The sponsor files from California, one of 6,801 plans on file there, at a median of $109.24 per participant. Its business code places the plan in retail, one of 2,305 on file, which run to a median of $93.99.
Plans of a similar size in California
| Plan | Participants | Cost per participant |
|---|---|---|
| Northwest Carpenters Individual Account Pension PlanBoard Of Trustees, Northwest Carpenters Individual Account Pension Pla | 23,478 | $121.69 |
| Molina Salary Savings PlanMolina Healthcare, Inc. | 23,181 | $46.16 |
| In-N-Out Burger Associates' Profit Sharing PlanIn-N-Out Burger, Inc. | 22,896 | $9.00 |
| Harbor Freight Tools Retirement Savings PlanHft Holdings, Inc. | 21,345 | $25.83 |
Service providers (Schedule C)
| Provider | Service codes | Direct comp. ($) | Indirect comp. ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schwab Retirement Plan Services,Inc. | 50, 26, 64, 15 | 587,557 | not reported |
| Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. | 62, 71, 59, 50, 33 | 3,002 | 0 |
Useful links
- Find a 401(k) you left at an old job ↗
The DOL's Retirement Savings Lost & Found. Free and official.
- Read this plan's Form 5500 as filed (PDF) ↗
The document every figure above was read from, served by the DOL. Acknowledgement ID 20251027134349NAL0009724704001.
Source
Everything this page reports about the plan itself was read from one document: the Form 5500 annual return that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. filed with the US Department of Labor for the plan year ended December 31, 2024. Nothing here is estimated, modelled or supplied by the employer to this site.
Where the page compares this plan with others, the comparison is computed from the same Form 5500 release across the peer group each figure names. The filing is below, and the identifiers under it find it again without this page.
Read the filing as submitted (PDF, dol.gov) ↗
| Document | Form 5500 annual return for plan year 2024 |
|---|---|
| Filed with | US Department of Labor, EBSA (through EFAST2) |
| Filed byAs spelled on the filing | WILLIAMS-SONOMA, INC. |
| Employer EIN | 942203880 |
| Plan number | 001 |
| Filing ACK_ID | 20251027134349NAL0009724704001 |
| Received by the DOL | October 27, 2025 |
| Bulk dataset | DOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data (FOIA) |
| Dataset last refreshed | July 28, 2026 |
Bulk dataset at askebsa.dol.gov ↗ · Search EFAST2 by EIN and plan number ↗
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Williams-Sonoma, Inc., with the Department of Labor or with this plan’s recordkeeper, and publishes this page without their involvement. It republishes a public filing and says where it came from.
Filings lag by design: a plan can file up to 9½ months after its year ends, so this is the newest data on file. Why filings lag
This is an amended filing. It replaces the sponsor's earlier submission for the same year.
Cite this page
401(k) Monitor, "Williams-Sonoma, Inc. 401(k) Plan: Form 5500 facts", from DOL EFAST2 filing 20251027134349NAL0009724704001, plan year ended December 31, 2024. 401(k) Monitor Score 54 out of 100 (exact value 53.88).
