Increasing Defined Contribution Plan Participation: A California Pilot Project

Abstract

The State of California is a multi-agency employer, with more than 200,000 employees. State employees participate in a defined benefit (DB) retirement plan and most have access to a voluntary state-sponsored supplemental defined contribution (DC) plan. Three State of California agencies recently launched a campaign pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of different outreach strategies in increasing supplemental DC enrollment and contributions. The campaign results suggest that outreach efforts are effective in increasing enrollment and existing enrollee contributions, although their effectiveness may vary depending on the intensity of outreach applied. While the campaign pilot focused on a comparatively small sample population, the results of the campaign can extend beyond California public employees, since DC plans play a major role in both the public and private retirement landscape.