Financial Wellness: 5 Ways To Position It To The C-Suite

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Financial Wellness: 5 Ways To Position It To The C-Suite

Employee financial wellness has exploded as a ‘must-have’ program for top employers to attract and retain talent. It is now regarded as a critical factor in individual employees’ overall health and is an important component of an organization’s growth strategy. Financial wellness may be on your HR agenda, but perhaps the C-suite has yet to embrace it. So how do you influence the executive team from the bottom up and position financial wellness to the C-Suite?

There are several ways to position financial wellness to the C-suite, but first let’s explore a few reasons why employees desperately need a financial wellness benefit:

  • 71% of employees say that uncertainty about money is the biggest stress they face in the workplace1. 
  • 78% of employees are living paycheck to paycheck; more than half can’t cover a $500 emergency2.
  • Financial stress is also affecting those in the C-suite themselves. Approximately 36% of employees earning more than $100,000+ annually live paycheck-to-paycheck3.

Not only does a financial wellness benefit have a profound impact on employees, there are several positive results for the company as well:

  • Increases productivity and reduces employer costs
  • Boosts employee retention and engagement
  • Bolsters the value proposition in attracting top talent
  • Lowers healthcare costs by improving employee physical and mental health
  • Enhances the organization’s culture of care and market position 

Ok, we know you get it! But how do you position financial wellness to the C-suite? Here are some strategies that will help you prepare:

  1. Make it about the business. Provide statistics about how financial wellness can increase productivity, decrease overall healthcare cost, reduce turnover, decrease absenteeism/presenteeism, and create flexibility for your retirement-ready population. There is a tremendous amount of independent data that supports all of these statements – be smart on the numbers and let data drive the discussion.
  2. Tie-in to your company’s DEI, Social Determinants of Health, and/or Culture strategy. Financial inclusion should be framed as a component of broader culture strategy – it goes well beyond just another employee benefit. Take the time to get input and buy-in from DEI Councils in advance of your C-suite meeting – those voices really matter! Show how financial wellness will add to your “Best Places to Work” application in your community – it’s all part of your employer brand!  
  3. Show how it will enable the C-suite to demonstrate authentic leadership. Announcing a financial wellness program to employees, to the media, and to customers creates a real statement about how the C-suite leads, especially in the current economic environment. Like all of us, they want to be known for their leadership impact, and this is a low cost, high impact program to add to their personal credibility.
  4. Bring it to your company’s clients! Financial wellness creates a real opportunity for HR leaders to bring these ideas to clients – sharpen those inner commercial instincts! This can enhance client relationships for your company, and position HR in a completely different way to the C-suite. 
  5. Don’t just bring the C-suite the concept, bring them the entire playbook! All too often, the C-suite receives new ideas for sign off based on a product capabilities deck and pricing proposal. Take the extra step and lay out exactly how financial wellness will be implemented to the organization with an annual calendar, speaking appearances for them, touch points for measuring progress, and a concrete plan they cannot argue with. The C-suite should feel your sponsorship of financial wellness, and they’ll respect that you’ve fleshed out a complete plan to make it work!

We Can Help Position Financial Wellness to the C-Suite

No matter a person’s position, demographics, or level of authority within an organization, a financial wellness benefit proves to be beneficial to the individual’s overall well-being and financial health. For additional help on advising the C-suite to offer a financial wellness benefit, contact BrightDime: learn-more@brightdime.com

BrightDime is an industry-leading financial wellness solution designed to alleviate employee stress that’s tailored to their specific financial situations. To learn more about BrightDime’s financial wellness platform view this short 2-minute demo.

  1. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “Financial Wellness at Work”
  2. American Psychological Association. Stress in America. www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/sia-pandemic-report.pdf
  3. Lending Club Report https://www.pymnts.com/consumer-finance/2022/report-36-of-consumers-earning-250k-now-live-paycheck-to-paycheck

For more helpful articles, go to: https://blog.brightdime.com

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