The Washington Post reports that two large companies, Lockheed Martin and Nationwide Financial Services, have seen a dramatic increase in 401(k) participation since incorporating automatic enrollment. At Nationwide, for instance, 96% of employees are participating in the retirement plan, compared with 74% two years ago.

Automatic enrollment allows for employers to automatically enroll their employees in the 401(k) plan. Employees may opt out of the plan if do not wish to participate. More companies have been using automatic enrollment since the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which made it easier for companies to incorporate that feature into their retirement plans.

NADART provides automatic enrollment as one of its retirement plan features to help plan sponsors increase participation in their plan. Other features include the Roth 401(k), an array of investment options including target-dated funds, 24/7 online account access and low fees. To find out more about automatic enrollment or any of our other features, contact a NADART representative at (800) 462-3278, ext. 7161 or e-mail nadart401k@nada.org.