Employees are once again ramping up their commitment to their 401(k) plans.

Just 2.4 percent of Defined Contribution plan participants stopped contributing in 2010, compared with 3.4 percent of participants in 2009, according to the ICI's latest quarterly study.

As the economy continues to improve and the stock market continues on its upward path, employees no doubt are wondering whether their companies are planning to restore their matches for 401(k) plans.

A new comprehensive study by Grant Thornton, however, does not shed much encouragement for workers.

The surging stock market rally not only is repairing personal balance sheets and 401(k) accounts. It is also defusing the corporate pension crisis.

The funded status of the typical US corporate pension plan in February rose 0.4 percentage points to 88 percent, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management.    

The slow pace of employer adoption of Roth 401(k) and 403(b) plans appears to be changing. While just under 30 percent of mid- to large-size employers currently offer a Roth, another 25 percent were likely to offer one in 2010, a recent report by Hewitt Associates says.

As their name indicates, Roth 401(k) and 403(b) plans combine features of both Roth and 401(k) retirement savings plans. Plan participants make after-tax contributions to their account; as a result, their distributions in retirement are tax-free. Plan sponsors can match their contributions. Employees at any income level can participate, and the contribution limits are fairly generous -- $16,500 in 2011, plus another $5,500 if the participant is 50 or older.

Most workers are not putting away as much money as they could for retirement.

According to a survey conducted by Dutch global financial giant ING, an astounding 87 percent said they could be saving more in their defined contribution plans--401(k), 403(b), or 457 plans.

According to the Investment Company Institute, Americans held more than $4 trillion in 401(k) plans at the end of 2009. Despite the size of the market, both employees and employers often are hard pressed to say just how well their plan is doing.

Sure, a generous employer match is better than a stingy one (for the employees, at least), while both the company and its employees generally do better with low or no fees, rather than hefty ones. However, it's been difficult to gain a sense of how one plan compares to another when all elements-such as the match, investment choices and fees-are tallied.  
 
The team at BrightScope Inc in San Diego aims to change that, and has spent several years analyzing 200-some variables of about 50,000 401(k) plans in the US. The result, they claim, is a thorough and neutral assessment of each.

Two recently released studies highlight the dilemma many employers face concerning their 401(k) plans.

One report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows that automatic enrollment, among other actions, is reducing the number of workers at risk of running short of the funds they'll need to cover their basic needs in retirement. Another study, this one from AARP, found that the number of companies offering automatic enrollment remains at less than 50 percent, with another 16 percent either very or somewhat likely to add this feature in the next year. 


The EBRI Retirement Readiness Rating, which launched in 2003, assesses national retirement income prospects. For all the doom and gloom surrounding the current state of the economy, the percent of workers likely to run short of money in retirement actually has dropped over the past seven years.

It is very easy to be an economic worry wart these days.

Unemployment is stubbornly stuck in the 9 percent range, and we all know it is a lot worse than that when you consider the under-employed, part-timers, and fed up.

According to the federal government, Americans work about eight hours a day. Now, I say "according to..." because the government actually put out a study last month confirming what we already know: we spend a third of our lives at work.

The workplace is our second home. Our employer is our second family. That is why the safety net employers provide for employees matters.

According to recent surveys by Fidelity Investments, Grant Thornton and Hewitt Associates, many of the companies that eliminated matching contributions to their employees' 401(k) plans now are slowly reinstating them, as Steve Taub wrote about last week. In Grant Thornton's survey from February, for instance, 20 percent of companies that eliminated or cut their matches already had restored them, while another two-thirds were planning to do so.

Reinstating a 401(k) match is great news for employees. The not-so-good news for employers? Complying with the myriad rules that come into play can get complicated, notes John Lowell, a vice president with Aon Consulting. Unfortunately, compliance and doing good by employees are "not always on the same page," he notes.