Are Your Financial Education Resources Effective?

Financial stress affects all employees, regardless of income level. Although a company may compensate its employees well, the rising costs of living and tuition place a seemingly endless burden on families trying to juggle financial responsibilities. You can help your employees navigate these stressful areas by offering financial education resources. 

Employer-sponsored financial education is often the motivation your employees need to take a harder look at their finances. If they know you’re invested in their personal well-being and can trust the resources you share, it’s significantly more valuable than information they could Google (but likely won’t). 

Employees are looking for guidance to make more informed, financially sound decisions as they plan for major expenses: purchasing a home, preparing for their children’s college costs, funding their own retirement, and many other financial decisions that they face daily. 

Stress’s Impact on Employee Productivity

A recent survey of over 10,000 employees revealed that financial stress negatively impacts an employee’s productivity. The lost productivity represents between 11 and 14 percent of payroll expenses per employee, per year. That’s not a small percentage of your outgoing expenses. 

The Goal of Financial Education

As you build out your financial education offering, it is imperative to maintain a holistic perspective by providing a comprehensive approach to financial management. Financial well-being, often interchanged with financial wellness, should be at the forefront of all financial education efforts, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

The CFPB defines financial well-being as “a state of being wherein a person can fully meet current and ongoing financial obligations, can feel secure in their financial future, and is able to make choices that allow enjoyment of life.” 

This government agency, which is responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector, shares questionnaires on its website to help measure financial wellbeing to provide a baseline for organizations interested in elevating the financial well-being of its community.

Creating Comprehensive Financial Education

Each of your employees is at a different stage in their financial journey. It’s important to recognize the various needs of your employees and provide them with comprehensive resources that tailor their financial wellness experience to their personal situation. 

Luckily, a holistic financial wellness program that utilizes data, technology, and AI will do the heavy lifting for you. All you have to do is offer the benefit.  

Here are steps you can take to make effective financial education available for your employees:

Step #1: Assess the financial status of employees. 

Use the questionnaire provided by the CFPB along with the guidance of an expert partner in the financial wellness industry to create an anonymous survey to determine the needs of the employees. An employee survey will inform which elements of the program are most relevant to your employees and you can focus on those when you roll out the benefit. 

Step #2: Ask employees what financial success looks like for them. 

Do they wish to own a home, start a family, become savvy investors, pay off debt in the next year? Understanding employees’ goals (or helping them to realize their own goals) will give you both the opportunity to identify the resources they’ll find most valuable. 

Step #3: Offer a variety of options to accommodate different learning styles. 

Some employees learn best during live workshops while some prefer webinars in the comfort of their homes. Some would rather read articles or take online assessments. Meet the employees where they are by providing a variety of resources they can choose from. 

Step #4: Partner with a financial wellness expert. 

It is impossible for your HR team to become experts overnight on all things financial wellness. This makes it a difficult task if you’re trying to piece together a financial wellness suite of services. In order to offer employees the best resources possible, find a partner like FinFit that specializes in holistic financial wellness.

Step #5: Incentivize employees to participate. 

Like any benefit, employees must be willing to engage in order to reap the rewards. Create monthly challenges and other fun activities to incentivize employees to participate in the financial education resources. The financial wellness partner can also offer ideas on how to engage employees. 

We know from experience that without #5, your employees are unlikely to see the full value of a financial wellness benefit (which means you won’t either). 

That’s why the FinFit platform includes member rewards for your employees. Weekly trivia, points-incentives and a member referral program encourage your employees to participate and spread the word. In return, they can exchange their points for cash and prizes. 

We’d love to help your organization bring financial wellness to your employees – schedule your demo.