Does “financial wellness,” that nebulous buzzword of the moment with no standardization or measurement of success, actually work? Depends on the individual program, of course, but with every company seeming to have a program in the offing, the importance of financial wellness itself seems to be getting through to participants.
That’s the finding of the latest report from Four Seasons Financial Education (FSFE), which recently revealed its 2016 Employee Financial Wellness Survey. This year’s survey found that employees were more likely to rate their understanding of their 401(k) investment options better if a workplace financial wellness program was available to them. Employees were given five categories, from “not at all” to “extremely well” to identify their level of understanding.
When no workplace financial wellness program was offered, only 14 percent of employees rated themselves as “extremely well.” However, those with workplace financial wellness programs increased to 22 percent in the “extremely well” category. The middle category of “adequately well” also improved from 25 percent to 33 percent. For those without workplace financial wellness, 24 percent rated themselves in the worst two categories of “not well” or “not at all.” Those categories improved to only 15 percent with the existence of workplace financial wellness.
The new FSFE survey also reviewed top financial goals, employer loyalty, benefits understanding, wellness statistics and more.
Four Seasons Financial Education provides workplace financial wellness services to companies throughout the U.S. to help them improve their bottom line. Since 1986, it’s helped corporations increase workplace productivity by focusing on the most important asset of the company – the employees.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.