Businesses are taking more control of workers' 401(k)s, retreating from the 30-year experiment with employees running their own accounts.

Barclays PLC's Barclays Global Investors now urges employers to automatically direct 8% of workers' pay into 401(k) savings and build from there. T. Rowe Price Group Inc. in the past year has seen a sharp increase in plans moving all participants into target-date retirement funds -- even if those participants previously selected their own investments. Prudential Financial Inc. on Monday...