cover story Financial Wellness Meredith Corp. s 3 Keys tosuccessful

Transcription

1 cover story Financial Wellness Meredith Corp. s 3 Keys tosuccessful

2 The Magazine of WorldatWork Financial Wellness Understand your employees needs by doing it with them, not for them. Employee input is vital to any wellness program, but it s especially crucial when personal finances are being addressed. Nine years after the Great Recession ( ), many Americans say they still worry about their finances, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts about Americans financial security. istockphoto.com/jusun By Jim Fickess, WorldatWork 2016 WorldatWork. All Rights Reserved. For information about reprints/re-use, copyright@worldatwork.org april 2016 workspan 25

3 Don t do it at your workforce. Do it with them. Tim O Neil, Meredith Corp. Director of Employee Benefits and Wellness A recent Aon Hewitt survey indicates employers are increasing their efforts to help workers bolster their 401(k)s. The survey of 360 employers representing more than 10 million workers found three key 401(k) trends: Company match. Of responding companies, 42 percent match employee contributions dollar for dollar; up from 31 percent in Before 2013, the most common match was 50 cents on the employee dollar. Automatic enrollment. Of employers that automatically enroll their workers in 401(k)s, 52 percent set the enrollment at 4 percent or more, up from 39 percent in 2013 while 51 percent default workers at or above the company match, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in Back-sweeping. More employers are taking action to ensure all workers, not just new hires, participate in the company 401(k). Sixteen percent are automatically enrolling all eligible employees, which is called back-sweeping, double the rate in With more workers falling short of their retirement savings needs, employers are being more aggressive about making plan design changes that will help workers close the savings gap, said Rob Austin, Aon Hewitt director of retirement research, in a press release. While these tweaks to the plan may seem small, they can have a profound impact on workers ultimate retirement wealth. 42 % 52 % 16 % It s a sentiment that continues to linger even though the U.S. economy is starting to pick up in job and wage growth. Yet, people remain wary about spending and are more concerned about making enough money to cover current living costs, much less think about the future. Collaboration Is Key Meredith Corp. took a wellrounded approach when starting its financial wellness program in 2009 as employees were feeling the effects of the recession, said Director of Employee Benefits and Wellness Tim O Neil. Don t do it at your workforce, advised O Neil when describing the media company s startup efforts. Do it with them. The first step in that buy-in was to form an employee financial wellness committee. We wanted to figure out which topics were on their mind and the best way to approach them, O Neil said. These can be sensitive areas. It s not like encouraging employees to walk over their lunch hour. But before approaching employees, the financial wellness program got a strong endorsement from Meredith Chairman and CEO Steve Lacy, which is Meredith s second key for a successful program. Steve Lacy came to me and said he wanted to help our employees get their financial house in order. It is great when you have a leader say, I care about our employees. That s the foundation for success, O Neil said. That was the same kind of support Lacy gave when O Neil was hired in 2007 to start Meredith s Health Wellness program. And, having that program in place helped the 26 workspan april 2016

4 Financial Wellness Checklist acceptance of financial wellness because it seemed like a natural extension, O Neil said. Time for a Checkup A financial wellness checkup, which provides both macro and micro results, is the third key piece in Meredith s successful program, O Neil said. Getting employees to open up about a private matter such as their pocketbook during a wellness checkup is a challenge, said Leonard Sanicola, CCP, CBP, GRP, SPHR, a WorldatWork practice leader specializing in benefits and wellness. The biggest thing to do is continually emphasize confidentiality and why the organization feels this is important, Sanicola said. From there, make sure you are using credible, third-party partners for both the assessment and education phases. Going forward, communicating employee testimonials on how the program has helped them would be good. And, make sure senior leadership participates in the assessment phase. For its annual checkup, Meredith partnered with Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation, which provides both individual scores and an aggregate report (without individual identification) that assesses the overall level of financial well-being and the areas where education would be most beneficial. Finding out the educational needs is key, Sanicola said. A first step is to define what you mean by financial wellness, he explained. There are lots of areas. Is it to get people to do a better job of saving for retirement? To pay down credit-card debt? To save for a new house? Know the needs and concerns of your workforce Understand your target audience s needs. Measure your organization s level of financial stress. Assess financial behaviors of both employees and their dependents. Consider confidential employee surveys/focus groups. Identify priorities and address these first based on your employees knowledge levels (financial literacy) Who will deliver the education? Will you segment your audiences for different topics? What educational approaches and delivery channels will be used? Consider workforce demographics, interests, costs, learning styles, preferences, etc. What support tools will be provided to help employers take action? How will you fund the program? Consider your ERISA budget, savings from vendor negotiations and/or a reallocation of other company investment dollars. Drive behavioral change by creating targeted educational programs based on financial needs and priorities. Begin with a pilot program to test the waters; adjust based on results. Be holistic; cover a wide range of topics Topics can include, but are not limited to, cash and debt management, retirement, homeownership, investing, insurance, estate planning, paying for college, building an emergency fund, taxes, cash flow, budgeting, financial goal setting, selecting an agent/broker/certified financial planner, researching an investment and balancing a checkbook. Determine how to present unbiased information. Make sure educational information comes from objective sources without investment product sales or other conflicts of interest. Use a combination of internal and external sources. Partner with your current service providers, such as 401(k) providers, EAPs, voluntary benefits vendors and longterm care insurance carriers. Tap into: local community resources; nonprofits and government agencies; and personal financial educators. Source: WorldatWork april 2016 workspan 27

5 Meredith s score has climbed to 7.1 while the national average has dropped to 5.4 despite the improving economy. IMPROVEMENT OF FINANCIAL STRESS LEVEL 2009 Meredith 6.0 National Avg. 5.9 Today Meredith 7.1 National Avg. 5.4 In the financial assessment of your workforce, find out what the top one or two issues are. Assess what you are doing and why you are doing it. Don t try to tackle everything at once. The program can later be expanded and modified to meet evolving employee needs. Bring in an Unbiased Leader The next step is to bring in a financial wellness educator. Meredith hired Iota, a West Des Moines, Iowa, company to provide financial education. Iota fits one of Sanicola s recommended criteria it deals in education and does not sell investment products. Meredith boasts high participation rates more than 95 percent of employees have taken the annual financial checkup while more than 80 percent have attended at least one financial workshop session. The Iowa-based media company employs about 4,000 people in 25 locations. And, those employees have lowered their financial stress levels, according to research by the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation. On a 1-to-10 scale, Meredith employees were at 6.0 at the start of the program, slightly better than the national average of 5.9. Since the 2009 introduction of the financial wellness program, Meredith s score has climbed to 7.1 while the national average has dropped to 5.4 despite the improving economy. That survey showed deliberate results that help demonstrate the impact of financial wellness programs across the company, O Neil said. While Meredith took the right first steps in establishing its successful financial wellness program, O Neil wishes more emphasis would have been placed on the fiscal wisdom of capitalizing on existing employee benefits. Over the last five years, we ve seen the importance of educating employees on basic benefits providing education on the benefits and the mechanics on how to take advantage of them, O Neil said. For example, since 2010, employee participation in the company s 401(k) program has increased from 85 percent to 94 percent while the average employee deferral doubled from 3 percent to 6 percent. Seeing employees better utilize benefits is a delightful part of the financial wellness program, O Neil said. We are getting great value for our annual investment and it has made a monumental impact on our employees and families, O Neil said. Financial literacy is higher, levels of financial stress are lower, feedback about the program has been incredibly positive, and we have some great outcomes to share. Jim Fickess writes and edits for WorldatWork. Contact him at jim.fickess@worldatwork.org. resources plus For more information, books and education related to this topic, log on to and use any or all of these keywords: Financial Wellness Employee Benefits Strategies 28 workspan april 2016