Operation Financial Wellness: PSCA National

This breakout workshop at PSCA National on May 4, 2023, covered resources and ideas for plan sponsors to implement a low-cost financial wellness program for employees. The workshop was presented by Tracy Tillery, Westchester Medical Center Health Network and Jillian Verspyck, Bank of America (Gillian Godjas, Belzona, was a contributor but not on site).

The panelists opened the workshop asking how many attendees (200+) work at a company that has a designated financial wellness officer – one attendee raised his hand. They then asked how many have a benefits staff with employees that could be assigned to run a financial wellness program – six attendees raised their hands. Though financial wellness is clearly a topic many are interested in, most do not have the resources to implement a broad-based program. 

Research shows that 97 percent of employers feel they are responsible for their employees’ financial wellness, and 80 percent of employees also think their employer should play a role. Feelings of financial wellness are at a 5-year low (and dropping) with 44 percent of employees feeling OK bout their financial situations as of July 2022 according to Bank of America’s 2022 Workplace Benefits report. These financial strains have an impact – 21 percent of employees tapped emergency savings accounts, 21 percent worked additional hours, 20 percent looked for higher paying jobs, and 6 percent took a 401(k) hardship withdrawal. Panelists noted that 30 percent of employees are looking for a new job right now – addressing financial wellness factors can help retain some of those employees.

So what are some things that resource-strapped employers can quickly, easily, and cost-effectively do to help employees? Leveraging no-cost resources is a great way to start:

• America Saves Week
   - Webinars, videos, pledges, sweepstakes, social media. Was in February in 2023, will be in April in 2024.
• FDIC “Money Smart”
  - Video-based with gamification and certificates.
• Better Money Habits
  - English and Spanish online learning
  - Brank workshops and in-person guidance with focus on low/moderate income communities and non-profit organizations.
• Social Security Administration and Medicare
  - SSA will come out and do a free presentation for employees.
  - Information for those nearing retirement, disability, and survivor benefits.
• AARP
  - Focused on those age 50 and older or retired.
  - Provide interactive workshops, in-person events, and articles.
• 401(k) Day
  - PSCA provides a free participant-education campaign every year to host a celebration on 401(k) day (the Friday after Labor Day) or anytime during the year that works for your company.

Other ideas included having your recorkeeper of education consultant come out during retirement week. Call your local credit-union – many will come out and provide a free financial workshop for your employees. Pro tip – tell them the dress code ahead of time so that they are relatable to your workforce.

The panelists provided a checklist for developing a program:

• Discuss with your provider of financial advisor and see what resources are available to you through existing contracts. And/or leverage one or more of the no-cost resources above.
• Determine how you want to structure it, what will work best for your demographics, a one-time event, self-service online program, in-person workshops/events, or a combination
• Use your employee resource groups or champions (ex, women’s group, etc.).
• Establish a theme or use one from any of the free resources
• Consider including family members
• Create a signed pledge
• Consider incentives, giveaways, drawings, games, food
   

After the event, measure the impact with a post-event survey and look for changes in benefits behaviors 30/60/90 days out. Make adjustments to the program as necessary and repeat. May need multiple touchpoints.

A handful of audience members stated they provide incentives to employees to participate in these programs, some provide a dollar amount contribution to the HSA. Many need to be creative with their budgets and ability to provide incentives. One attendee shared that as a government agency they are limited in what they can do so he created a microsite called “I don’t want more money.com” that employees had to access to opt-out of the plan.

Plan sponsors want to provide tools to employees but do not always have the budgets and the staff to do big programs. By leveraging free resources and creating a simple targeted plan, sponsors can add value to employees without a large investment of resources.