If your company isn’t offering a Roth investment option, target-date funds, automatic escalation or automatic rebalancing as part of its retirement plan by the end of 2011, it looks like it’ll be behind the eight ball.
The majority of mid-to-large U.S. companies plan to have those features in their retirement plans for the coming year, according to a recent Aon Hewitt survey of 210 companies.
Just 38% of employers are confident that workers are taking accountability for their financial future, according to the survey. That’s down from 43% who were confident of that last year.
As a result, many employers are planning to add features and make changes to the designs of their retirement plans to boost employee savings rates.
Here’s a rundown of what employers are planning to do in 2011:
- 36% say they are likely to add automatic enrollment to their plan (that’s in addition to the 57% who already have it)
- 26% say they are likely to add automatic escalation (47% currently have it)
- 33% are considering adding automatic rebalancing (49% have it already)
- 38% indicate they’ll add a Roth 401(k) plan feature (34% have one already)
- 83% will continue offering target-date funds
- 47% say they’d like to add an online investment feature
- 36% say they’re likely to offer online investment advice, and
- 69% say they’ll increase their communications to employees about investments and plan fees.
One major impact of the recession: 23% of employers had to reduce or suspend their 401(k) match.
But 2011 has brought with it some good news for employees — 55% of those employers have already reinstated their matches in some form, and another 18% plan to do so by the end of the year.
Has your company made (or does it plan to make) any significant changes to its retirement plan in 2011? Let us know in the Comments Box below.
