January 2021 Edition
A new year has arrived! Many are hoping 2021 will be better, but challenges remain. For example, it’s likely employee financial stress will continue to be evident in the wake of COVID-19. The good news is, companies are noticing their employees are feeling financially stressed – and taking action.
According to BenefitsPRO, 48 percent of workers reported feeling stressed or concerned about their personal finances in October last year, a 9-percent increase from just three months earlier.1
More employers are also feeling a rising sense of responsibility to provide their employees with financial wellness benefits. In 2020, 62 percent of employers felt extreme responsibility for their employees’ financial wellness.2 That feeling of responsibility has increased by nearly 50 percent – from 13 percent in 2013.2
Realizing that financially stressed employees can result in bottom-line losses, companies have begun calculating the ROI of financial wellness programs, including:3
- Increased participation in retirement plans
- Reduced 401(k) loans and hardship withdrawals
- Reduced number of delayed retirements
- Reduced healthcare costs
What are the most popular financial wellness benefits?
Supporting financial well-being not only helps employees pay off debt and save for an emergency, but it can also drive business results by reducing health care costs, boosting candidate recruiting, increasing employee retention and engaging employees.3
A PwC survey found that 78 percent of financially stressed employees and 63 percent of non-stressed employees would be attracted to another company that cares more about financial well-being.3
With more companies adding financial wellness benefits to their portfolios, the most popular tend to be benefits that offer training and counseling for topics such as:3
- Budgeting
- Debt management
- Planning for health care costs; using health savings accounts
- Saving for college costs
Explore Enrich™ personalized financial wellness
Many financial wellness packages are available, designed for companies of all sizes. Securian Financial offers a new solution — Enrich Financial Wellness – which provides behavior-changing, interactive financial education to help employees improve their financial well-being.
The Enrich platform includes dynamic tools and courses, including courses with interactive content adapted to unique user needs, financial behavioral analysis, and prescriptive action plans with realistic goal setting. Employees get a highly personalized experience as they learn about important financial topics from student debt to budgeting. Over 12 months, active Enrich users saw a 55-percent increase in their savings.4
In addition to Enrich, Securian Financial offers comprehensive financial wellness benefits within its Financial Wellness 360® program. The program offerings that meet their employees where they are: online, in person or self-paced, including on-demand financial seminars with Advisor Connection, student loan assistance benefits through CommonBond for Business™, and self-service tools and resources within our Lifestyle Benefits suite.
1. De Beer, Marthin. “COVID-19-related financial stress is hurting employee health and well-being.” BenefitsPRO, November 17, 2020.
2. Miller, Stephen. “Employers Feel More Responsible for Employees’ Financial Wellness.” SHRM, October 1, 2020.
3. Alban, Kris. “How to calculate the ROI for employee financial wellness programs.” BenefitsPRO, September 25, 2020.
4. Enrich Behavioral Change Results. Enrich 2019 research summary.
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