Financial Fitness for Life

It is no secret that financial stress has a significant impact on mental health, productivity, turnover and absenteeism in the workplace. By some estimates, pre-pandemic financial stress cost U.S. businesses upwards of $500 billion per year. According to PwC’s 2020 Financial Wellness Survey, lost productivity, turnover and other factors related to stress cost the average company between 11%-14% of their total payroll expense.

Since March 2020, there is growing evidence that COVID-19 is having a serious and consistent impact on employees’ mental health, further exacerbating the financial impact on employers’ bottom lines.

The American Journal of Managed Care estimates that nearly 7 in 10 employees feel the COVID-19 pandemic is the most stressful time of their entire professional career. 88% percent of workers reported experiencing moderate to extreme stress over the past couple of months. And, among those reporting stress, 62% noted losing at least one hour a day in productivity and 32% lost at least two hours a day.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) confirms that financial stress, now aggravated by COVID-19, is the leading cause of lost productivity, unplanned absences, lower job performance and greater distractions among employees.

Now more than ever, there is a measurable incentive for employers to think more broadly about how to take positive actions around the health and wellbeing of their workforces. Many are turning toward financial wellness solutions. According to Alight’s survey, 2020 Hot Topics in Retirement and Financial Wellbeing, 64% of employers say that financial wellbeing has gained importance at their organization over the last two years. And three-quarters of employers state that their financial wellbeing program is part of a broader focus on wellbeing. Another study conducted by Willis Towers Watson in 2020 estimates that 45% of employers will enhance their wellness benefits due to COVID-19.

Making that change

While helping employees feel better about their finances is a good place to start, improving financial behaviors should be the ultimate goal of these programs. Behavior change education and behavior change is what will reduce employees’ stress, provide enduring results and help employers reduce costs related to financial stress.

Many financial services companies claim to offer a solution, but most offer little more than platitudes, sleep-inducing content and online calculators.

In looking at the myriad of solutions it’s important to distinguish technology-only solutions that merely provide written or video education with calculators from those that offer truly personalized advice from a live financial coach. The ability for employees to have access to personalized coaching in person or by phone, video call or chat and email is critical to increasing employee engagement and changing financial behaviors. That’s where Financial Fitness for Life can help.

Helping Employers Quantify Financial Stress

Overland Park, Kansas-based Financial Fitness for Life (FF4L) is a comprehensive financial wellness solution that couples in-person financial wellness coaching with best-in-class technology.

FF4L’s proprietary Productivity Drain Calculator is used by employers to estimate how much financial stress is costing their companies and quantify the potential benefits of addressing it. “With very conservative assumptions about stress and its impact on productivity, a company with 500 employees can easily experience a $3-$5 million productivity ‘cost’ per year,” said Christian Mango, the president of Financial Fitness for Life. “If that same company could reduce its financial stress by an easily achievable 10%-20%, FF4L can have a multimillion-dollar impact over three years.”

After understanding that impact, FF4Lworks with companies to better understand their employees’ specific needs and designs customized education solutions that make sense for their organization.

Facilitating Employees’ Financial Wellness

By providing in-person financial coaching, FF4L’s financial wellness solution empowers employees to take control of their financial lives. FF4L helps them to:
• Establish long-term goals.
• Calculate retirement needs.
• Establish retirement accounts and emergency funds.
• Embrace appropriate investment responses to market fluctuations.
• Have greater retirement confidence.

Based on 15 years of experience and extensive research, FF4L knows that the best way to get employees to take action, change behavior and create good financial habits is through personalized, in-person coaching. “Meeting participants where they are, in person, and developing a level of trust is what separates us from our competitors,” said Glenn Spencer, CEO.

“It’s in our DNA. Technology and auto-feature-based programs are just not personalized enough to sustain engagement and motivate employees to improve their financial wellbeing.”

By coupling in-person financial coaching with best-in-class technology, FF4L is able to scale its financial wellness solutions, deliver a consistently high level of service and ultimately reach more people. The Financial Fitness for Life technology platforms allow them to provide ongoing actionable employee engagement using digital nudges and just-in-time messaging to track employee progress and success. Their custom data analytics allows them to survey employee populations and understand key stressors and helps employers develop strategies to improve their business by improving their employees’ overall wellbeing.

Striving for All-Around Financial Wellbeing

Having carved out a unique niche in the financial wellness space by helping both employers and employees, FF4L aims to diversify its programs and invest in its people. FF4L is continuously adding components to its already well-built services. Adding elements like consumer and loan debt counseling, emergency savings accounts, income advance programs, financial planning and tax counseling allows FF4L to meet clients’ ever-evolving needs. “By meeting employees where they are and designing programs around their specific needs, we are able to help them take steps, big and small, to improve their financial wellbeing,” said Mango. “And, by reducing financial stress we’re helping employees improve their ability to develop goals, quality financial habits and behaviors that promote good financial health, and ultimately attain financial security.” FF4L’s approach provides actionable solutions that help people stabilize cash flows, eliminate debt, save for emergencies and save for their futures.

As FF4L grows, it will continue to invest in its financial coaching team, which is the core of its unique value proposition. “We will continue to build out our financial coaching team,” said Mango. “They are at the essence of what we do and what separates us from our competitors, so, it is critically important to our ongoing success.”