Since managing your finances is not a once-and-done task, the most successful workplace financial wellness programs encourage consistent engagement and offer employees the tools they need to stay on top of their finances.
To do this, employers are taking advantage of technology to offer personalized financial wellness guidance and communications, and borrowing from behavioral science to steer employees toward good choices. By taking some time to customize their approach and taking a few key steps, employers can offer an engaging financial wellness program that helps employees lead financially healthier lives:
Offer relevant content with tools to help with financial planning.
Just like online shopping sites use consumer preference data to suggest products, data analytics and algorithms in a financial wellness platform can help determine whether an employee is making progress or needs some extra help to stay on track.
Employers can also create targeted marketing campaigns that focus on personal milestones — like buying a new home or celebrating a child's birthday — and use that to encourage specific behavior or habits, whether it's buying homeowner's insurance or starting a college savings fund.
Including self-service decision-support tools on a platform can help employees get answers to specific questions easily and better plan for possible life changes. For example, online calculators can help employees figure out how much additional life insurance they might need if they have a child — or their family continues to grow.
Keep communications short and sweet.
A successful financial wellness platform should aim to keep employees engaged through clear communications. Deliver useful, relevant messages to employees that are simple, bite-sized and geared toward an employees' level of financial sophistication. Share messages that are short, actionable and relevant to make it easier for employees to take an action.
Learn more about how technology can help make a financial wellness program more effective in “Driving engagement and participation," available for download here.