Plenty of businesses offer a solid 401(k) that almost no one uses well. The plan document is fine. The fund menu is fine. But participation is low, contributions are small, and employees aren’t on track. A plan that people don’t use isn’t really a benefit — it’s a line item.
Start with enrollment, not paperwork
The single biggest lever is getting people in the door. Features like automatic enrollment and automatic escalation quietly do the heavy lifting: employees are enrolled by default at a sensible rate, with contributions that step up over time unless they opt out.
The result is higher participation without anyone having to be talked into anything.
Make the choices simple
Most employees don’t want to build a portfolio. They want a reasonable default and the option to adjust. A clean lineup with a strong default investment (like a well-run target-date series) beats an overwhelming menu of fifty funds every time.
Education that sounds like a human
Plain-language sessions and one-on-one help matter far more than a glossy brochure. When people understand the match, the tax benefit, and what "on track" looks like for them, they engage.
What we do about it
When we take on a plan, we look at three things together:
- Fees — what the plan and participants are really paying.
- Design — enrollment, match, and escalation settings that drive good behavior.
- Engagement — whether people are actually enrolling and contributing enough.
Then we fix what’s holding it back and document the whole thing, so your fiduciary process is defensible.
If you’re not sure how your current plan stacks up, a no-cost benchmark is the easiest place to start.