A new survey from Betterment for Business, the firm’s 401(k)operation, finds that many plan participants want a lot more service thantheir plans provide, including personal financial advice and needfinancial education.

Fifty-three percent of respondents reported that they receive“absolutely no advice on their retirement investments.” Manypreferred receiving advice on demand, when they need it and througheasily accessible channels such as email, plus one-on-one sessions.Millennials expressed the most interest in receiving advice morefrequently than once a month.

Among the 47% who want advice, two-thirds use a financialadvisor and most (79%) reported that they trust their advisoreither completely or substantially.

The survey was conducted online by Market Cube in July andAugust and consisted of 1,051 consumers who work for companies withless than 1,000 employees, have a work emailaddress and contribute to their 401(k) plan.

Less than half of the respondents knew the definition of afiduciary and 20% thought that the terms “fiduciary” and “financialadvisor” were synonymous. Among those aware of the LaborDepartment’s fiduciary rule, 84% neglected to take an action suchas asking their advisor if he or she was a fiduciary. Almost halfof those who did ask changed advisors.

Another example of the need for financial education: the findingthat 16% of participants with a 401(k) match failed to contributethe maximum amount that could be matched, and 7% didn’t knowwhether they were offered an employer match.

The survey found that nearly all respondents (94%) whose plansinclude auto-enrollment participated in their 401(k) plan (theyhave the ability to opt out), and 78% took advantage of theauto-escalation feature, if it was available.

But some said they chose to save less now knowing that thedeferral rate would increase in the future because ofauto-escalation.

On the Friday before Betterment for Business released thesurvey, it convened a meeting with the members of its advisoryboard and the press chaired by its founder and CEO, Jon Stein, todiscuss how 401(k) plans can best provide participants with thebenefits they need.

Board members suggested several improvements to the currentsystem, including enhancements to automatic enrollment andauto-escalation of contributions.

“Three percent is not enough,” said consultant Judy Mares, aformer deputy assistant secretary for policy in the LaborDepartment’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, referringto the traditional auto-enrollment contribution rate.

Laraine McKinnon, a former BlackRock executive and founder ofthe LMC17 consulting firm, discussed the benefits of re-enrollmentby 401(k) plans, which has the potential to increase participationand contributions.

There are several primary times when plans choose this method,according to McKinnon: When the default contribution rate isincreased, say from 3% to 6% or more, allowing employees tore-enroll at the higher contribution rate or enroll for the veryfirst time after choosing earlier not to participate; when theauto-escalation rate is increased; and when investment optionschange, including Qualified Default Investment Alternatives(QDIAs), allowing participants to choose more suitableinvestments.

The most popular QDIAs currently are target date funds, balancedaccounts and managed accounts, which have all replaced the oldstable value stalwarts, as a result of regulations.

The panel also discussed other potential improvements to the401(k) space including the increased availability of multi-employerplans, similar to the American Bar Association arrangement, whereeven self-employed attorneys can participate; portability of plansbecause employees frequently change jobs; and state initiatives tocreate plans for workers who don’t have them at work. (Congress hasoverturned an Obama-era rule designed to encourage states to createretirement savings programs for low-income workers. States canstill create those plans so long as they follow more restrictivefollow federal laws that protect the workers' investments.)

All panel members agreed that technology can play a crucial rolein getting more people to participate in 401(k) plans, increasecontributions, avoid investment mistakes and understand thefinances of their entire household rather than just their own.

Stein said the purpose of Betterment for Business is to providethe kind of advice that helps bring investors “the feeling ofdefined benefits in a defined contribution world … They want toknow that they’re on track, they want to know that they’recovered.”

Betterment is currently the largest independent robo-advisor,with $10 billion in assets.