Use Behavioral Economics to Encourage Employees to Make Better Decisions about Their §401(k) Plans

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In their new article, “Using Behavioral Economics to Encourage Employees to Make Better Decisions about their §401(k) Plans,” Christopher Goldsmith and Stewart Lawrence of Sibson Consulting discuss why employees make suboptimal decisions regarding their §401(k) plans and what organizations can do to improve employees’ decision making.

“Using Behavioral Economics to Encourage Employees to Make Better Decisions about their §401(k) Plans”

Mr. Goldsmith says, “There are many factors that determine the balance of an employee’s §401(k) plan when he or she reaches retirement. The state of the economy, the trajectory of the markets and other outside factors during an employee’s career all come into play. Every time an employee makes a §401(k)-related choice there is an optimal and a suboptimal decision, and poor choices can lead to lower account balances and deferred retirements.”

Mr. Lawrence continued, “Because §401(k) plans were created as simple supplements to traditional defined benefit pension plans, the consequences of suboptimal employee decisions used to be relatively minor. But, as the importance of §401(k) plans has grown, so have the consequences. In addition to hurting employees, suboptimal decisions can also result in an older workforce with higher labor costs and lower productivity.”

Read the full article here:

http://www.sibson.com/publications/perspectives/Volume_20_Issue_3/using-behavioral-economics.html

For more information, or to speak with the authors, please contact Mary Feldman, SVP, Director of Public Affairs at 212.251.5029 or [e-mail]

Sibson Consulting (www.sibson.com) a Division of Segal, provides strategic human resources solutions to corporate and non-profit employers. Sibson's services include benefits, compensation, talent and performance management, communications, sales force effectiveness and change management. Sibson has offices throughout the U.S. and Canada.