Meeting Your Employees Where They Are: A Guide to the Tools and Features That Influence Savings Behaviors

Offering a retirement plan is one of the most impactful ways to support your employees’ long-term financial well-being. But simply having a plan in place isn’t enough; the real measure of success is whether employees actually use it.

As more workers gain access to savings plans through state mandates and incentives, engagement is what sets great benefit programs apart. For employers, this means adopting the right tools and features to encourage positive saving behaviors. When employees truly value and use the plan, it pays off for employers through stronger retention, higher satisfaction, and a more engaged workforce.

In this blog, we’ll explore the tools and features that help you Vestwell—meeting employees where they are with modern tools, clear choices, and a savings experience that feels intuitive. Let’s dive in.

A Guide to the Tools and Features That Influence Employee Saving Behaviors

The right features make it easier for employees to stick with their savings plan and with you as their employer. Here are some of the tools and features to consider adding to your plan to encourage stronger savings behaviors:

Automatic Enrollment

Automatic enrollment is a feature that enrolls all eligible employees in the retirement plan unless they actively opt out. Recent legislation in the SECURE Act 2.0 makes auto-enroll mandatory for most new plans, but it can also be added to existing plans to boost participation.

How it influences behavior: Automatic enrollment removes the biggest barrier to participation: getting started. When saving is the default option, participation rates increase dramatically. Plans with automatic enrollment often exceed 85% participation, compared to 40–60% under voluntary enrollment, making employees far more likely to begin saving from the outset.

Automatic Escalation

Automatic escalation is a feature where employees’ contribution rates are automatically increased on a set schedule (often 1% each year) until a target rate is reached, such as 10%. Like auto-enroll, SECURE 2.0 makes auto-escalation standard for most new plans starting in 2025.

How it influences behavior: Small, automatic bumps compound meaningfully over time. Plus, because the increases happen automatically, employees don’t need to constantly check in or fine-tune their savings. That “set it and forget it” design helps reduce decision fatigue.

Employer Matching Contributions

Employers can contribute additional dollars to their employees’ accounts, commonly dollar-for-dollar up to a set percentage of pay (e.g., 100% match on the first 4%) or $0.50 on the dollar up to a threshold (e.g., 50% on the first 6%). You can tailor the formula to fit your budget and goals—for example, stretching a match (50% on 8% instead of 100% on 4%) to encourage higher savings without increasing total cost, or vesting the match over time to support retention.

How it influences behavior: Employees are much more likely to participate when a match is offered—research shows participation rates rise by 15–16 percentage points across all age groups.

Multilingual Access

Multilingual access means that plan portals, forms, disclosures, and support are available in multiple languages.

How it influences behavior: When employees can read and navigate in their preferred language, they’re more likely to understand options, take action, and continue to engage. 76% of consumers prefer products with information in their own language, a signal that language access boosts trust and conversion—dynamics that carry into benefits engagement.

Mobile Access

Modern, easy-to-use mobile apps enable employees to engage with their plan on the go: checking balances, updating contributions, and completing key tasks.

How it influences behavior: Employees expect to manage their finances on their phones, and retirement plans are no exception. Mobile access keeps savings top of mind, encourages frequent check-ins, and makes contribution changes simple. In fact, 62% of consumers say they can’t live without their mobile banking app, and 78% use it weekly—a clear signal that when savings are mobile, employees are far more likely to stay engaged.

Simplified Platforms

Modern retirement platforms offer intuitive dashboards that make it easy for employees to see contributions, balances, and progress toward their goals. Older, legacy systems often feel clunky and confusing, which can inadvertently discourage savings.

How it influences behavior: A sleek, user-friendly experience makes saving feel more approachable. When employees can quickly understand where they stand, they’re more likely to log in, take action, and stay engaged with their benefits.

Chatbots and Digital Assistants

AI-powered chat tools give employees instant answers to common questions, whether it’s how to update contributions, check eligibility, or view balances.

How it influences behavior: Quick, readily available support can resolve questions on the spot, which encourages consistent engagement with the plan.

Access to Holistic Benefits

Beyond retirement accounts, some modern providers now support 529 education savings, ABLE accounts, HSAs, emergency savings, and student loan repayment programs.

How it influences behavior: Not every employee is initially drawn to a 401(k) plan. By offering multiple entry points, you give employees the chance to engage where it matters most to them. This increases platform usage overall and creates more opportunities to guide them toward long-term savings over time.

Choosing a Provider With Access to Features That Encourage Savings

Not every provider offers the full range of tools that influence how employees engage with their benefits. When evaluating options, ask whether the platform includes all of the features discussed above so you can make sure your employees can fully engage with their benefits.

Ready to Vestwell?

The workplace benefits landscape is evolving fast. Features like auto-enrollment, mobile apps, and AI-driven personalization are no longer “nice to have”—they’re becoming the standard. Employers who embrace them now will be positioned as leaders in employee care and retention.

To Vestwell is to build a modern benefits strategy that boosts engagement, strengthens loyalty, and helps employees save with confidence.