Most people know that many employers here provide their workers with a 401(k) retirement account, but what is less known is how much employers do to help workers succeed in reaching their retirement saving goals.

Among those services are online educational tutorials and tools, yearly informational meetings, and even basic household budgeting courses.

"The main thing is that we are trying to maintain a toolbox that employees can draw from and that meets them where they are in their learning and savings process, so they can jump in wherever they're at," says Mary Prince, Avista Corp.'s corporate benefits manager.

Avista's 401(k) is overseen by the independent investment advising company Financial Engines, and gives Avista employees the option to choose between an automatically managed account for a fee, or a plan that they can manage and rebalance themselves at no cost, Prince says.

"We provide a lot of education and have annual in-person meetings," she says. "A lot of information is also available online, such as meetings and podcasts."

Another Spokane company that provides assistance to its employees in retirement planning is pharmaceutical manufacturer Hollister-Stier Laboratories LLC.

"The company has the philosophy that employees are responsible for their personal finances, but we want to empower them to take control, so we have the online tools with the 401(k) to help them with the planning process," says spokeswoman Alison Marlin.

Another option for companies seeking to help their employees plan for retirement is the independent financial planning services provided by the Spokane office of Mercer LLC. The global firm provides services to workers enrolled in qualified retirement funds at about 50 companies in the Inland Northwest, says financial adviser Chris Codd, who works at its office here.

"What we try and do with our clients and their offerings to their employees is to give the employees a service or solution that puts together a diversified portfolio for them, based on their level of investment risk or the number of years they have until retirement," Codd says.

Avista's Prince says that because the company offers its own 401(k) plan, it has some requirements to provide educational materials about the plan to employees, but it's up to the company how much and what method of education, such as annual in-person meetings, independent financial advice, or online tools, to provide.

"We try to meet them where they're at so they can be successful, and we consider that when we look at implementing any new programs," she says.

She adds that the online tools are a helpful option for Avista employees who work in outlying areas, or those who may not be able to attend the company's annual informational meetings.

Avista chose to provide some of its financial planning services, such as an automatically managed retirement account, to help its employees get to a comfortable retirement, Prince says.

"It's extremely important for the employees and as a plan sponsor to help participants take control of their own financial retirement process," she says.

The company matches up to 6 percent of an employee's contributions to their retirement account, and an employee can contribute up to a maximum of 16.5 percent of their income to their account, Prince says.

Avista also offers a "catch-up" program that allows employees over the age of 50 to contribute more than the maximum yearly amount to their 401(k), which is an option for those who might not have contributed enough to a retirement account in the past, she says.

Within the last five years, Avista began offering its new employees the option of enrolling in the company's retirement plan automatically, Prince says.

If employees decide to take part in that program, 3 percent of their pre-tax income is deducted from each paycheck and placed into their 401(k) account during the first year of their employment, she says.

The amount goes up by one percentage point annually during the employee's first three years in the program until it reaches 6 percent, she says, adding that Avista matches the employee's contributions in the automatic enrollment program up to 6 percent.

"We put that in place several years ago because it helps people start saving and putting away money they haven't had in their hand yet, which is easier when they first start out getting a paycheck," she says. "We recommend employees enroll because the more you put in at the beginning, you're much better off in the long run, and it's a lot less painless when you're 40."

She says the automatic enrollment option is also beneficial to employees who may not otherwise have the time or knowledge to know when or where invest the money themselves, or who don't know how much to set aside from each check.

"Once they start getting dollars into their account and see that, they start getting interested in it and start educating themselves on what it is," she says. "It's really important in this economy because things can change, so you need to be thinking ahead, and sometimes it's hard to do that because we are so 'in the moment' as a society."

Employees of Hollister-Stier also have access to online tools from that company's 401(k) program to help guide them in their financial decision making and retirement planning, Marlin says.

Also, the company offers a yearly seminar for employees called Household Budgeting 101, she says. For that course, the company brings in an outside financial adviser.

Marlin says as changes are made to the company's 401(k) program, it holds meetings to inform its employees of any changes that will show up in their accounts.

"We definitely value the employees and want to help them plan for their futures and make sure they are self-sufficient," she says. "If there is any way we can help them along the path, we'd like to do that."

Hollister-Stier matches up to 3 percent of its employees' financial contributions to their retirement accounts, Marlin says.

Codd says Mercer provides a variety of mutual fund options to companies in the area.

The funds are designed around asset allocation, which means each fund combines different classes of assets, such as large-, mid-, or small-cap equities, bonds, stocks, real estate, and cash equivalents, based on the employees' desired comfort level for risk, he says.

"They take on an appropriate amount of risk based on the years they have until retirement, and those portfolios rebalance as they get closer to their retirement," he says.

Codd says the two main things he works with employees on is how much they need to contribute to their account so it will grow sufficiently to meet their needs, and making sure they have a proper allocation of investment options to meet their goals for the future.

"A lot of time is spent sitting down with them and making sure they have the right investment portfolio," he says. "Then, we help them figure out how much they need to be saving and help them utilize the tools provided by their 401(k) provider to help them with that process."

Most company-provided 401(k) plans that he says he's worked with in the Spokane-area provide a lot of good educational material for employees to use in the planning process, such as risk-tolerance questionnaires and information on the risks associated with investing, to ensure employees understand the process and know where their money is going.

"We encourage them to read through the material, and we help them with the process of which investment option offered by their employer is the best for them and what percentage of each dollar needs to go into which funds," he says.

Codd stresses that his role is only to educate employees on what the best investment option for them is, not to tell them what fund they should invest in.

"The employee always has control over which funds they want to choose," he says. "We're just here to educate and guide them in their investment decision-making process."