10 Ways to Share Your Financial Wellness Program with Employees

Financial wellness programs are quickly becoming one of the most popular benefits offered by employers.¹

64% of Americans are somewhat or very stressed about money.² 

Setting them up with a financial wellness program helps reduce stress and improve money habits, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.¹

Once you have a program set up, the next step is to get people to use it. Here are ten ways to help share your financial wellness program with employees.
 

1. Include mentions of your program in all company-wide communications.

This does not need to be a lengthy description or advertisement.

In fact, advertisements are often ignored, so it is better if it is just a casual mention.

It can be as simple as a single line at the end of an email: “Remember to check out our financial wellness program!” or “If you haven’t already, sign up for our financial wellness program.” This works as a good closing, even on emails that are not about the wellness program itself.
 

2. Integrate it into your Single Sign-On (SSO).

Never underestimate the laziness of a person. The mere task of having to create a username and password could be enough to turn people away from a program.

Make sure your program is integrated into the SSO at your company so that all it takes is a click to bring a new user on board.
 

3. Use contests to grow interest.

People love competition. More than half of people in a survey said they would pay more attention to their behaviors if a level of competition was added.³

Adding a competitive element to your program can help increase participation.

Contests like “Which department will have the most people sign up for the financial wellness program?” can help inspire people to sign up and has the added benefit of creating healthy peer pressure.
 

4. Leverage the prevalence of smartphones.

The average American spent four hours looking at their phone each day in 2020.⁴

Make this work to your advantage by sending occasional text messages with reminders about the program.

Don’t overdo it – too much communication will be ignored as spam. But do use texts to promote specific aspects of your financial wellness program. For example, “Did you know…?” texts can work well to create interest.

If your program has a dedicated phone app, even better!

 5. Integrate it with your healthcare program.

Financial wellness and physical wellness go hand in hand.

The programs for both should go hand in hand as well.

Make sure all websites and communication about your healthcare program also include your financial wellness program.

Some platforms, like Enrich’s employee wellness platform, can integrate the platform branding with the healthcare side.
 

6. Include it in employee orientation.

Orientation is one of the rare times a worker will be a captive audience.

Use it to emphasize the financial wellness program and its benefits.

Be sure to feature the program prominently alongside other important things, not as an afterthought.

Lay the groundwork here for the program to be a staple in the workplace.
 

7. Use calls to action.

A call to action is an instruction using an imperative verb that commands a specific behavior.

CTA's are used often in marketing and designed to promote an immediate response, i.e., "Sign up now!" or "Call today!"

Calls to action are especially useful when they can be completed immediately, as with online ads, you can click right then.

These CTA's should be placed in an area on your website where employees navigate regularly, such as an employee portal or a benefits information page.

If your financial wellness program allows deep-linking, you can (and should) deep link to specific relevant content whenever possible. For example, if you have a page on your website with information about employee 401k loans, you could deep link to content on the financial wellness portal which details the pros and cons of borrowing from your 401k, as well as other options to investigate.

8. Make it worth their while.

Incentives help.

Money, free lunch, and prizes all work as powerful incentives to drive workers to your financial wellness program.

Incentives have been shown to increase participation in a program by 50% or more.⁵

While money is an excellent motivator, simple prizes like t-shirts can have the same effect.

Consider using a point system where a user can accumulate points and redeem them for higher value prizes.

To learn more about what impact different types of incentive programs typically have on financial wellness program engagement, check out "Providing Incentives for Your Employee Financial Wellness Program".

9. Include the financial wellness program on your company’s internal website.

A banner or graphic about the financial wellness program should be included on every page of your website or work platform.

Similar to email communications, this can be a small graphic that links to the program.

Having it on the home page alone is not enough – put it on every page to keep it in front of faces. 

10. Personalize communications.

Using email and text communications, as we’ve seen, can help spread the word about your financial wellness program.

But in order to increase the efficacy of those communications, it is best to personalize them. “Dear Brett,” is more likely to get Brett to open the email than “Dear Employees.”

Even better, entice them with a question. “Brett, do you want more money for weekend fun?”
 

Using these ten ways can help take participation in your financial wellness program to a new level.

That’s good for the program, good for the workers, and good for your company’s bottom line.

Financially healthy workers are less likely to be distracted at work.

They are more productive and less likely to switch jobs.¹

Remember, the key to a successful program of any kind is participation. Use every tool you can to keep your financial wellness program relevant and prominent in the workplace.

1 - https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/workforce-of-the-future/library/employee-financial-wellness-survey.html

2 - https://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/03/most-americans-rich-or-not-stressed-about-money-surveys.html

3 - https://www.snipp.com/blog/2017-06-21/the-power-of-gamification-participation-engagement-loyalty

4 - https://www.govtech.com/question-of-the-day/did-americans-spend-too-much-time-on-our-phones-in-2020.html

5 - https://www.enrich.org/blog/employee-financial-wellness-program-incentives