Emails Prompt Employees to Save More for Retirement (Brief)
Evidence | Publications

Emails Prompt Employees to Save More for Retirement (Brief)

DOL Behavioral Interventions Final Project Brief
Published: Apr 30, 2017
Publisher: Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research
Human Services Employment Advisory Services
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Full Publication
Associated Project

Behavioral Interventions for Labor-Related Programs

Time frame: 2014-2017

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Labor

Authors

Samia Amin

Greg Chojnacki

Irma Perez-Johnson

Matthew Darling

Aravind Moorthy

Jaclyn Lefkowitz

Key Findings
Key Findings:
  • Low-cost, behaviorally informed emails increased the number of U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) employees saving at least 5 percent of their salary by 7.5 percentage points.
  • Emails raised the overall contribution rate by up to 0.4 percentage points, or approximately $11,500, over an employee’s lifetime.
  • Emails were not effective in causing non-contributors to start contributing a percentage of their salary to the Thrift Savings Plan.
This project brief summarizes findings from Mathematica's behavioral insights study conducted for the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

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