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“Financial wellness” is getting a lot of buzz these days — and for good reason. After all, today’s workforce is crippled by mounting student debt and other rising expenses. The resulting financial stress often damages an employee’s engagement, productivity and attendance. It’s no wonder then that companies are launching financial wellness programs to help their employees take control of their finances with tools to spend smarter, reduce debt and save more. If you’re one of those companies, then this guide is for you.
But where to begin? There is so much to consider here, from the different types and providers of financial wellness, to how to budget for such a program and measure ROI, to optimizing implementation and employee usage, and more. In this guide, we break it ALL down, so you can make the best decision for your employees — and, in turn, your bottom line.
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Here are the best financial wellness programs that we've uncovered through expert interviews and hours of research.
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Enrich
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Enrich is a highly customizable financial wellness program designed to educate your employees on how to better meet their financial goals. Through articles, videos, infographics and more, they can help your employees to increase their credit scores, increase 401k contributions, and decrease financial stress that takes away from employee satisfaction and productivity.
Enrich is from the same company as iGrad, a financial education program that partners with over 600 colleges to teach students how to better manage their finances.
Enrich
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Enrich
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Through CommonBond, companies can help their employees better pay for education. They will customize solutions for your oganization around paying down debt, refinancing, or saving for future educational opportunities.
CommonBond
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CommonBond
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Holberg Financial helps employees to get on the right financial footing through goal setting, financial educational materials that are bespoke to an individual, and 1:1 coaching. Whether you're saving for life events, or paying down debt, their offering can help meet your goals. In addition, they have some unique tools that let HR see employee engagement and progress with the tool.
Holberg Financial
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Holberg Financial
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PayActiv allows employees to break free of payday loans by allowing them to access a portion of their earned wages in between paychecks. In addition, the company provides tools and education designed to help individuals meet their personal finance goals.
PayActiv
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PayActiv
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Tuition.io helps companies empower their employees to pay down student debt. When offered as an employee perk, they see people increase student loan payments, which results in a 20% decrease in delinquent loans.
Tuition.io
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Tuition.io
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LearnLux is essentially an LMS that is focused on financial wellness education for your employees. Through lessons, tools, and coaching your employees will learn the ins and outs of 401(k)s, credit card debt, home ownership and many other topics. HR teams can also view employee engagement with this tool via their dashboard.
LearnLux
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LearnLux
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Brightside offers a holistic, mobile first financial care platform that empowers employees to live happier, more productive lives by tackling the financial challenges they face on a daily basis. Their service connects your employees 1:1 with an expert financial assistant who listens to their unique challenges and needs then navigates them to the best options available to them. Whether those are existing employer benefits, Brightside solutions, partner solutions, or community resources, Brightside’s financial assistants are never paid on commission and any kickbacks they receive from their partners are passed along to the employee as part of Brightside’s KickForward™ program. Solutions on their platform include early access to paycheck, payroll linked-loans, auto savings accounts, debt consolidation, budgeting, and plenty more. Their benefit sees 50%+ engagement, leads to an average $1,200 savings per employee, and has a net promoter score of 87.
Brightside
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Brightside
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Branch is a mobile wallet for your employees where the can receive wages and spend at various retailers or transfer money to other accounts. The main selling points are the ability for employees to collect earned wages and tips which cuts down on their reliance for predatory lenders.
Branch
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Branch
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Gradifi enables companies to offer student loan repayment as a company perk. This is huge in an era with student debt nearing $2 Trillion in the United States alone. As part of E*TRADE, Gradifi helps companies large and small to enable employees to pay down their student debt 25% faster.
Gradifi
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If financial wellness isn’t a top priority for your company this year, figure out a way to make it one. Money matters are stressing out your employees and negatively impacting their work. To help them get back on track, pay attention to what, exactly, is most important to them. Is it student loan repayment? The ability for workers to get their paychecks faster? Education in general? Retirement options? All of the above?
20-30 years ago, people were retiring at 55 and 60. Today, a lot of people are working into their 60s and 70s because they’re stacked with debt — either because they didn’t plan accordingly or because of things like their mortgages and their kids’ tuitions.
This debt can be debilitating for your employees and, in turn, your company. So ask yourself: do you want to just check a box that you offer a financial wellness benefit, or do you want something that goes beyond open enrollment? Chances are, you’ll want something that will keep employees engaged and actually help them out of the hardships they’re facing.
Whatever the case may be, focus on the areas most important to your company and develop a holistic long-term strategy around them.
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