Cost, of course, is a major obstacle for a number of companies, and, according to ECBs surveyed by MetLife UK, there's concern that a boost in the rate of minimum contributions will have to be offset by more attractive client offerings.

The implementation of auto-enrollment, says the research, has resulted in 8.5 million employees beginning to save and 800,000 employers signing up, but the approaching rise in minimum contributions from one percent to two percent of salary for employers and 1 percent to three percent of salary for employees could prove to be a stumbling block for both employers and employees—although ECBs also believe it can be an opportunity to point out benefits' value.

MetLife research shows that employees are more engaged with their benefits; its 2017 Employee Benefit Trends study finds that 55 percent of employees highly value the benefits they receive at work, which was an increase of 25 percent from its previous 2015 study.

In addition, a Thaler and Benartzi study demonstrated in the late 1990s/early 2000s that employees who agreed to raise their contributions each year for four years "nearly quadrupled their savings rates" and that once their savings strategy was in place, set to increase annually, "very few … ever got around to changing their allocations again"—a distinct improvement over the savings rates of those who set contributions at a fixed rate, rather than an increasing one, and then never increased them.

Nearly four out of five (78 percent) of EBCs, says the research, believe the rise in auto-enrollment minimum contributions will not lead to cuts in benefit budgets; in fact, 34 percent believe employers will even increase their benefit budgets.

But 27 percent of EBCs are concerned that employees will opt out of contributing because of the contribution increase, and 73 percent say they're concerned about the rising cost for employers of providing benefits.