There's a new standard in 401(k) plans. A survey by Hewitt Associates found that employers are increasingly taking aggressive action to push their employees into good saving habits. Automation and target-date funds, with an increased focus on investment education are becoming the norm in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Employers have put their faith in automation in a big way; 58 percent automatically enroll employees into their 401(k) plans. Of those, 69 percent default their workers into a target-date fund, and 47 percent offer automatic rebalancing. The most dramatic increase though, is in automatic contribution escalation – 44 percent of employers offer this tool, compared to 9 percent in 2005.

Employers aren't necessarily more altruistic, according to Hewitt, by pushing their employees into good savings habits. An increasing number of companies look at engagement and adequate retirement income as a measure of plan success, rather than participation numbers.