Financial stress plagues millions of American employees. To offset this stress, many companies have started including financial wellness programs into their employee benefits package. But without the proper implementation this good intention is unlikely to go very far. To start it is important to understand that your workforce is different. Every employee has their own unqiue financial challenges. When you identify what those challenges are then your program is better prepared to offer information that is useful. Here are three more tips to further ensure financial wellness program success.
Integrate into existing benefits
Seamlessly integrating financial wellness into existing benefits offerings lets employees know how to find the resources and programs related to the financial wellness program. Making it accessible is key to adoption and ultimate success.
Focus on the basics
Keeping it simple keeps it effective. Your financial wellness program should focus on the issues that matters most to employees in their everyday lives.
- 86% of employers focus on topics like debt management and budgeting
- 84% focus on retirement planning
Giving employees the power to take control of issues like debt, budgeting and preparing for retirement give them the freedom to get more involved in finance if they choose.
Use high touch tactics
Financial wellness is a very personal issue. Don’t blur the lines by forcing employees to discuss personal issues in a public setting or in front of their colleagues. Employers who currently offer financial wellness programs are providing things like:
- Seminars (73%)
- One-on-one coaching (69%)
- Phone support (60%)
These methods are most effective while more public methods like incentives, gamification and mobile apps can feel too public and too impersonal for employees to really get invested. Keep it private so employees feel comfortable using your program as a resource to guide their financial future.
Learn more about financial stress and the impact it could be having in your office in our whitepaper, What Impact Does Financial Stress Have on Wellness.
