employee financial wellness

employees facing fewer financial worries and distractions; employers benefitting from a more focused, engaged, and productive workforce — employee financial wellness programs can help employees find balance and control over their finances, now and throughout their lifetime. improving employees’ financial wellness can lead to heathier employees, reduce absenteeism and lower turnover rates while raising employee satisfaction and improving the employer brand. however for financial wellness programs to be successful they need to do more than just provide education they need to result in employees taking appropriate actions that lead to financial success.

mercer’s approach to employee financial wellness focuses on engaging employees throughout their lives, with a focus on guiding employees towards action. the objective is to help employees reach their goals for every stage of their “financial lives,” whether it’s saving for a house, a car, college, or retirement.

organizations have every reason to want their employees to be financially sound. an effectively designed employee financial wellness program can help employers:

• bolster productivity, because employees aren’t distracted by financial worries.
• drive more predictable workforce flow throughout the organization.
• result in improved physical health (people with high levels of financial stress are more prone to sickness).
• increase employee engagement and retention.
• create more affordable retirement opportunities for all employees and enable career advancement opportunities for younger employees.

having a clear understanding of the business benefits of financial wellness, integrated within the overall wellness and hr talent/acquisition strategy ensures corporate commitment and is key to a successful financial wellness program.

our methodology relies on data analytics to provide insights into employee behaviors. we use statistical analysis to isolate demographic and behavioral characteristics to find the most successful programs and tactics for employees. we then also craft “personas” from the data to increase employee engagement. our goal is to help employers develop a sustainable approach to financial wellness that improves outcomes for employees. to better ensure that both employees and employers derive maximum value, we can also perform a cost-benefits analysis.

in the us there are well over 300 financial wellness vendors. they operate in a market that is not well-established, and is evolving at a rapid pace. the companies themselves are young, with limited track records. in such an environment in-depth vendor research and ongoing vendor monitoring is essential, mercer has a team of specialists focused on financial wellness vendor research and monitoring.

there’s a lot of financial advice out there; most have a not-so-hidden agenda, linking advice to investment programs and products. at mercer, we are transparent with our clients and help them be transparent with their employees.

mercer financial wellness programs help employees take action and reduce financial worries while employers increase workforce engagement and productivity.