Tag Archive for 'Financial Health'

Poor Benefits Communication Damages Both Employee and Employer Health and Financial Wellness

As busy as it can be, open enrollment is a good time to reflect on the effectiveness of your company’s benefits communication. While everyone seems to agree that benefits communication on the whole needs improvement, many organizations are in denial about how critical that improvement is to their own organization.

Findings from the 2011 Aflac WorkForces Report highlighted the discrepancy between how companies and their workers view benefits communications:

85% of employers believe their HR departments are effective at benefits communication
27% of employees say their HR communications are not very/not at all effective
39% say the efforts are somewhat effective

And yet everyone agrees there is much needed improvement:

Published by bbenedict on October 10, 2011

The Answer: Improve benefits communications and invest in employee wellness

What’s the question? Have you read the recent headlines?

Surely there are more options for proactive organizations than just waiting for the US Congress to work together to uncover ways to reduce both the country’s budget deficit and soaring health care costs. At the recent 24th Annual Benefits Forum and Expo in Dallas, two industry experts highlighted some key ways to reverse these trends.

Published by bbenedict on October 7, 2011

Financial Wellness – A Key Hiring Criteria?

An amazing 60% of companies used candidates’ credit reports to help make hiring decisions in 2009, according to a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll.

So, the natural question is why a credit score of all things would be used to evaluate a prospective employee?

One likely reason might be that employers worry that a poor credit score indicates a lack of responsibility that could ultimately translate into poor performance.

Credit score indicative of a poor performer?

Published by bbenedict on August 23, 2010

GuideSpark announces monthly newsletter dedicated to financial wellness and benefits communications topics

Financial Wellness Update, GuideSpark’s new monthly email publication will be dedicated to providing Human Resources professionals with information, tips and best practices for implementing workplace Financial Wellness programs and establishing best-in-class Benefits Communications.

“Over the last two years, HR interest in effective approaches for helping employees understand their workplace benefits and solve their personal financial issues has grown considerably,” said John Wolff, Vice President, Business Development. “This newsletter will serve as a platform for sharing what we’ve learned in a decade of experience helping employees in these areas.”

Sign-up for GuideSpark’s monthly newsletter here:
Financial Wellness and Benefits Communications newsletter

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Published by bbenedict on April 14, 2010

GuideSpark webcast to address value of employee financial wellness for employers

In an upcoming Webcast, financial wellness experts from GuideSpark will discuss the increasing need for employers to address employee financial education and health – while realizing a return on investment of over 3:1.

Poor employee financial health is having a negative impact on organizational objectives and productivity. Four out of five employees in financial distress spend time at work dealing with such financial issues – resulting in a 12 to 20 hour drain on productivity – each month.

“The Need for Financial Wellness” webcast is scheduled for Tuesday, December 8 at 11:00 a.m. PST. John Wolff, vice president of business development, will discuss the issues of employee financial health, and ways employers can address this growing problem.

Published by bbenedict on November 30, 2009

Poor Employee Financial Health Is Hurting Performance and Organizational Productivity, says GuideSpark

Employee financial health issues are negatively impacting key organizational objectives and should be a key priority among employers, advises GuideSpark.

Forward-thinking companies that implement financial wellness initiatives can expect a return on investment of over 3:1, according to recent studies.

In its new white paper, “The Need for Financial Wellness,” experts from GuideSpark (formerly ThriveOn) discuss the advantages available to companies that take ownership of the financial health and wellness of their employees.

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Published by bbenedict on November 11, 2009

The Data Invasion and Financial Health

Seems like a repeat question that keeps coming up in my financial wellness sessions is, “what was different about the Great Depression than what we are experiencing now?” How about for a start…communication and data!

On January 27th, 1927, two years before the US economy fell off a cliff, inventor Philo T. Farnsworth applied for a patent that is now considered the official birth date of the television. Because this medium was still in its infancy in 1929, radio and newspapers were the only tools with the ability to reach the masses. But as we know, all of these mediums are only good for moving information one way.

Published by bbenedict on March 30, 2009

Financial Health and Toxicity – Mutually Exclusive

This week the government announced a new plan to rid the financial system of so-called “toxic assets”, a general term for assets that have exposed their holders to large losses. It is these assets that have paralyzed both the credit markets and the investor community from moving forward because, to date, no one has been able to determine the extent of their poisonous reach. So to restore some semblance of confidence, the government is proposing to build an entity to capture, hold and somehow try to sell these blemished instruments.

Published by bbenedict on March 23, 2009

A Personal Stimulus Package – Sanity and Financial Health

They are telling us that, after months of horrendous news, hints of a return to economic stability created sustained euphoria during last week’s market run-up. The word sustained is used loosely here…it means more than one day. Some large and previously battered financial companies, namely Citibank, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase reported that were profitable during the first two months of the year. And, investors all over the globe, who are still licking their wounds after being pummeled by the same market that ruthlessly hacked their personal wealth, now want to quickly make up their losses by getting back on the same airplane that essentially crashed in stormy weather.

Published by bbenedict on March 16, 2009

The Current Chaos and Personal Financial Health

These days as I slog through my daily Wall Street Journal, by the time I get to the lone cartoon buried somewhere in the back of the paper, I feel like I have been mauled by dozens of bears. What’s scary is that I am now almost numb to the pain because the daily mauling has been going on for well over a year. The Wall Street whispers of, “stay the course” and “invest for the long term” are ingrained in my thinking but it’s hard not to feel that what is going on now is different than the downturns of the past.

Published by bbenedict on February 22, 2009

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