Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image. More Coverage: Benefits shrink if you retire early, grow if you retire late With online calculators, it's 'So many questions, so little time' She can retire early, but she'll need to find some part-time work

Companies sponsoring 401(k) retirement plans face a problem similar to equestrians, who know you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Workplace programs designed to motivate employees to save more and invest wisely have produced mixed results. While many workers vow to be better savers after the training, there's abundant evidence that it's more talk than action.

"People are busy living today and it's hard to worry about tomorrow when today needs all your money and time," says Kelli Send, who conducts workplace retirement sessions for Francis Investment Counsel, a Milwaukee, Wis., firm that advises companies that sponsor 401(k) plans.

As 401(k) plans replace traditional pensions as the primary workplace retirement benefit, more companies are trying to educate their employees on how to be better savers. Self-interest is one motivation. Employees have sued companies for not educating them about retirement savings, and such lawsuits could become more common as baby boomers leave the work force and discover how meager their nest eggs are, says Jim Bartoszewicz, president of Cowden Advisers, a Pittsburgh retirement plan consultant.

Efforts to educate workers focus on two methods: online and in-person programs.

Each method has its advantages and limits, which is why companies try to find the right combination of both approaches.

Online programs let investors work in private, at the time they choose and at their own pace. They range from simple retirement calculators that provide an idea of how much you need to save to retire at a specific age to sophisticated software that analyzes a worker's current savings, expected retirement date and other information before providing a customized portfolio.

Retirement specialists say the effectiveness of online programs depends on how many questions are asked, the quality of information investors provide, and whether the investor implements the computer's recommendations. Online surveys are "daunting for 90 percent of the people out there," Mr. Bartoszewicz says.

If questionnaires are too long or complicated, investors won't complete them, says Adam Bold, co-founder of Smart401k. The Overland Park, Kan., firm provides investors with a recommended retirement portfolio based on a 10-question survey and the funds offered by their company's 401(k) plan.

"The reason it's been so successful is that it's so easy," Mr. Bold says.

Classroom sessions provide the type of individualized help online programs don't, says Cheryl Daley of Cygnet Strategies Financial Literacy. Employers hire the Upper St. Clair firm to conduct workplace seminars on retirement savings and other financial topics. Spouses are invited to some sessions, which can provide a more comprehensive view of retirement objectives and how to achieve them, she says.

"It's amazing how out of sync the significant other is with their spouse," Ms. Daley says.

In-person advice also has its limits, as Ms. Send discovered when she studied what happened to the retirement accounts of workers at two companies who were educated by her firm.

Over the three-year period ended Dec. 31, those who received individual retirement advice earned better returns, were more diversified and endured less volatility than those who didn't. However, individual sessions didn't result in workers saving significantly more, she says.

"I really thought that as advisers, we would have an impact on the amount that people are saving," Ms. Send says.

While adding a human touch can produce better results, there's a perception that in-person advice is more expensive than online alternatives.

"Companies are too cheap to pay for it. Participants are too cheap to pay for it," says Chad Parks, president of Online 401(k), a San Francisco-based retirement plan adviser.

Rather than trying to educate workers to save wisely on their own, more employers are stocking their 401(k) plans with mutual funds managed according to a worker's anticipated retirement date. So-called target date funds get less aggressive as a worker nears retirement. The funds fine-tune the portfolios of many investors who don't have the time or ability to do so on their own.

Others employers are taking more drastic measures and automatically enrolling new employees in 401(k) plans. Unless they take the initiative to opt out, the company will automatically deduct a prescribed amount from their paycheck, typically 2 or 3 percent.

Some take the extra steps of automatically increasing contributions and rebalancing portfolios annually. Hewitt Associates says 23 percent of the companies it surveyed are likely to start automatically enrolling employees by the end of this year. Pension reform legislation being debated in Congress also would encourage companies to take this step.

PPG Industries started automatic enrollment for new employees Jan. 1, limiting the program to those eligible to receive company matching contributions. Of the 185 who qualified, 146 didn't object to 3 percent of the paychecks going to retirement, 35 signed up to contribute more and only four dropped out, says spokesman Jeff Worden.

Vested Interest, a 401(k) plan service PNC Financial Services Group offers to about 500 companies, gives workers at those companies the choice of automatically rebalancing their portfolios quarterly or annually. Brad Bonno, manager of employee education services, says participants will soon be able to agree to automatically increase contributions annually.

Optimism that employees could become competent retirement fund managers -- a difficult job more companies are unwilling to take on themselves -- dominated education efforts a decade ago. But those programs haven't made most workers take an active, informed role. So retirement plan advisers are trying to make that inertia work for employees by turning to automatic enrollment, target date funds and other auto-pilot features to do the job for them.

"More than half the people are willing to say: 'Do that for me,' " Mr. Bartoszewicz says.