Vanguard of Malvern has introduced a trademarked Enroll Now option to make it easier for employees to join their company’s 401(k) retirement plans.

The tool is also likely to boost individual retirement savings by 40 percent over 20 years, the investment management firm’s research shows. That’s because nearly six in 10 of the employees who joined their company’s 401(k) retirement plan during pilot research on Enroll Now™ also chose to automatically increase their savings by a modest amount each year.

Enroll Now distills the online plan enrollment process into three critical decisions: how much to save per paycheck, whether to increase that amount annually and by how much, and which investments to choose. Employees may also use the traditional enrollment process.

Vanguard developed Enroll Now based on behavioral finance research showing that choice overload in retirement plans—in this case, the steps required to enroll in the plan, select a contribution rate, and choose an investment—can stifle any action at all. With pre-selected, easy-to-make choices, the entire process is less overwhelming and more action-oriented.

“With longer life expectancies and decades spent in retirement, it is more important than ever for American workers to save adequately for retirement,” said Rebecca Katz, principal of participant strategy and development at Vanguard.

“By providing participants with simple, pre-set, and one-click decisions, Enroll Now should enable more employees to easily take advantage of their workplace retirement benefit because they’re not overwhelmed by having to determine how much to save and which funds to invest in,” she said.

Vanguard earned a prestigious 2014 Gold Quill award from the International Association of Business Communicators for Enroll Now’s research innovation and data-driven approach.

Vanguard, headquartered in Malvern is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. As of April 30, Vanguard managed more than $2.57 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets. Vanguard offers more than 160 index and actively managed funds to U.S. investors and more than 100 additional funds in non-U.S. markets.