iGrad Partners with Dot Foods to Provide Financial Wellness Education to 2,500 Employees

Leading financial education company iGrad has partnered with Dot Foods to offer its award-winning financial wellness platform to 2,500 employees at the food industry redistributor’s headquarters in Mt. Sterling, Ill. 

Dot Foods rolled out the white label Enrich financial wellness platform in June, calling it “Money Matters¹” and promoting it to employees via social media, the company intranet, emails, direct mail and more. More than 300 employees have already started participating. 

“Our goal is to empower employees to prepare for their future by making smart money decisions every day,” said Chelsea Reed, Dot Foods benefits strategy manager. “We want them to realize that financial wellness is just as important as physical wellness--the two are intertwined. If you don’t take control of your finances, they will control you.”

Employees are more stressed by financial matters than all other sources of stress combined, according to PwC’s 2019 Employee Financial Wellness Survey.² 

Nearly 60 percent of more than 1,600 adults surveyed in January named financial challenges as the primary stressor in their lives, far exceeding the cumulative total of employees attributing the most stress to jobs (15 percent), relationships (12 percent) and health (10 percent). 

The first-year goal, which has already been exceeded, is to have at least 10 percent of Dot Foods employees using Money Matters and other facets of the company’s financial wellness initiative, including group training sessions and private consultations with a financial planner.

Enrich is used by more than 12,000 employers and financial institutions nationwide to provide holistic financial wellness education and personalized action plans to employees and customers. 

“Studies show that employees are more stressed than ever about finances, which is proven to lower productivity while increasing absenteeism and health problems,” said iGrad founder and President Rob LaBreche. “Not only that, Baby Boomers are not financially prepared to retire and say they will be working much longer than expected. This has serious ramifications for the country and economy as a whole.”

Recognized with the 2019 Eddy Award for Financial Wellness by Pensions & Investments, Enrich offers adaptive, interactive financial education content on topics including student loan debt, mortgages, retirement, long-term health care and more. 

About iGrad

iGrad is a San Diego-based private company that offers financial wellness solutions to more than 600 colleges and universities, more than 12,000 employers and more than 300 financial institutions. iGrad was recently recognized, along with the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), with the Power of A Gold Award by the American Society of Association Executives for its APTA Financial Solutions Center. iGrad also received the 2019 Eddy Award for Financial Wellness by Pensions & Investments for its Enrich platform. For more information about the iGrad platform, visit https://www.igradfinancialwellness.com/. For more information about the Enrich platform for employers and financial institutions, visit www.enrich.org.

About Dot Foods

Dot Foods, Inc. carries 131,000 products from 1,040 food industry manufacturers making it the largest food industry redistributor in North America. Through Dot Transportation Inc., an affiliate of Dot Foods, the company distributes foodservice, convenience, retail and vending products to distributors in all 50 states and 39 countries. Dot Foods operates 11 U. S. distribution centers, which are located in Modesto, Calif.; Vidalia, Ga.; Burley, Idaho; Mt. Sterling, Ill.; Cambridge City, Ind.; Williamsport, Md.; Liverpool, N.Y.; Ardmore, Okla.; Dyersburg, Tenn.; University Park, Ill.; and Bullhead City, Ariz. A twelfth facility is currently under construction in Bear, Del. Dot Foods' Canadian operations are located in Toronto, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta. For information, visit DotFoods.com.

1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cQpy3Xyn6Q&feature=youtu.be

2 - https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/private-company-services/library/financial-well-being-retirement-survey.html