How to Drive Real Behavior Change with a Financial Wellness Program

Many organizations have created financial wellness programs, but according to a 2017 Aon Hewitt report¹, few programs focus on how their tools can really achieve the desired end result - driving positive behavior change.

Many financial wellness programs focus only on literacy, which does not drive change because these programs do not take into account that money is more than a factual matter.

Money, for most people, is an emotional issue.

A 2018 report Wellness is Wellness by Russell Investments², found that when teaching about emotionally-charged money issues, financial wellness programs have to help employees connect the dots from knowing what to do to knowing how to do it to actually doing what is necessary.

If a program only focuses on the first dot, users are not likely to make any behavioral changes, much like those who need to lose 20 pounds never shed the weight despite knowing they should.

In designing financial wellness programs, the authors of Wellness is Wellness said employers should draw on behavior-change theories rooted in psychology, including social cognitive theory, positive psychology, stages of change, and gamification.

Social Cognitive Theory

Social Cognitive Theory³ suggests that learning happens best, not through direct experience, but by observing other people’s behavior and the consequences of that behavior.

The process involved includes:

1. Attention: The observation of others to get information.
2. Retention: Turning those observations into rules and concepts and then storing it in memory
3. Reproduction: Taking the stored information and repeating the observed behaviors.
4. Motivation: The propels the individual to do all of these steps and continue to practice the new behavior

Since social cognitive theory suggests that social interaction improves a person’s ability to change, Enrich has included a peer-to-peer community section in our financial wellness platform.

This section encourages employees to ask and answer questions posed by other employees in areas such as credit cards, retirement plans, or identity theft. 

When looking at data usage over the past 12 months, Enrich found that users who engaged with the Community peer-to-peer section of our financial wellness platform were:

• Coming back to Enrich more often: 400% higher than the average user
• Using more content: 800% higher than the average user
• Scoring higher on assessments: 3-6% higher in a variety of financial wellness courses

Positive Psychology

Renowned psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D., founded Positive Psychology after using scientific methods to learn how the most satisfied, fulfilled people approached life.

He concluded that happiness has three dimensions that can be cultivated: the Pleasant Life (savor/appreciate basic pleasures), the Good Life (discover/use virtues and strengths) and the Meaningful Life (find fulfillment by using virtues/strengths for greater purpose).

Positive Psychology approaches change not from the perspective of difficulty, but rather from using strengths to create positive experiences.

At Enrich, we have integrated a Rewards API into our platform, which allows employers and financial institutions to provide incentives for users for completing exercises and scoring high on assessments.

Stages of Change

Stages of Change⁴, also known as the Transtheoretical Model, came about when studying those who tried to quit smoking in the late 1970s.

They determined that people could quit only when they were ready, bringing about a model that focuses on the decision-making process for intentional change. 

The six stages of change are:

1. Precontemplation - Individuals do not plan on making changes in the next six months because they do not see their current behavior as an issue and do not see the benefits of change.
2. Contemplation – People plan to make changes within the next six months, though they fear change because of any cons associated with the change.
3. Preparation (Determination) – Here, individuals begin to take small steps toward a behavior change, believing that doing so can make them healthier and/or happier.
4. Action – People have made changes and wish to continue either modifying behaviors or acquiring new ones.
5. Maintenance – Individuals sustain their actions for more than six months and want to continue maintaining these behaviors. They work to keep from relapsing.
6. Termination – In the final stage, people do not wish to return to old behaviors and believe they will not relapse. 

Enrich capitalizes on helping employees take small steps that allow people to transition from contemplation to action.

Each course results in a personalized action plan for the user, detailing specific steps they can take to improve their situation in the area of the course topic.

Gamification

Gamification⁵ is simply the use of game elements in non-game environments.

Put another way, it is a way of making non-game activities, such as learning about retirement funds, more fun by adding gaming activities. 

According to a study conducted by the University of Colorado⁶, individuals learning new skills had better results when the training included gamification:

• Skills – 14% higher
• Knowledge – 11% higher
• Retention – 9% increase

Gamification hones in on an individual’s desire for mastery, achievement, competition, learning, and play.

Strategies include such things as point rewards, achievement levels, badges, leaderboards, progress bar, certificates, cash, and more.

The Enrich financial wellness platform includes actual games as well as many gamification strategies.

Some include monthly challenges where users can win a $250 gift card, points given for actions taken, achievement levels, and rewards.

People want help learning about financial topics. It makes sense for employers and financial institutions to provide this service, but only if the program actually helps people make changes.

Financial wellness platforms like Enrich help people learn about financial topics as well as encourage them to make the needed changes using well-known and proven behavior-change theories.

As a result, Enrich users have seen many positive real-life behavior changes like increased savings and lower stress.

1 - https://www.aon.com/human-capital-consulting/thought-leadership/retirement/2017-hot-topic-retirement.jsp

2 - https://russellinvestments.com/-/media/files/us/insights/institutions/defined-contribution/wellness-is-wellness.pdf

3 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-98423-000

4 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1983-26480-001

5 - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259841647_Defining_Gamification_-_A_Service_Marketing_Perspective

6 - https://www.elearningguild.com/insights/168/gamification-games-and-learning-what-managers-and-practitioners-need-to-know/