Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER November 28, 2016 NEWS 9 A workshop-oriented program, for example, can see employees discussing the issues and then coming back six months later to talk about the ideas they've imple- mented, he says. "at way, you can see what works for some people, what doesn't for others and move on." When you're trying to change the philosophy in an organiza- tion, sometimes it's about the little things, said Daniels. "We actually provided work- shops based on early, mid- and late career, and it was interest- ing to see there were little differ- ences between the seminars or the workshops. And the behaviour change was radical, actually." Targeting employees with more focused messaging can help in segmenting people by gender, age groups or career stages, said Buchanan. "It's about individual contact because it's a very personal thing," she said. "It's not something you're go- ing to fix with one webinar. It's just specifically about a person and that person's moment in time, because how you are six months from today may be dramatically different than two years from to- day when you've lost a spouse or you've lost a job." Changing behaviours One successful program by Sun Life involved financial advi- sors as part of financial literacy campaign, said Daniels, where people could log in to book an appointment. "What's interesting is when we bring the advisor to the people, they generally go. And it's all sur- rounding the heightened aware- ness of this financial literacy for this 30-day period." Workshops on cash flow plan- ning were also popular, he said. "People that entered the pro- gram… didn't quite understand 100 per cent what it was. When they exited the event, they were really surprised and they found it incredibly valuable. And through word-of-mouth, we've started to get more enquiries and a little bit more demand for it, so it's very in- teresting to see how you can have a little tidal shift occur through word-of-mouth as well when there's good experiences." Cineplex has made a real de- termination to keep general programs as simple as possible, said Briant. Many years ago, it switched from a defined benefit to a defined contribution pension plan. And a couple of years ago, it switched to a group RSP. "We felt that while there's al- ways a painful transition year that, at the end of the day, employees would be better-served with a plan that they already had fre- quently a general, intuitive under- standing of, just from the external marketplace," she said. "We could make it simpler for ourselves in not having the whole actuarial level of detail and reporting level of detail that's re- quired in the pension plan. And they're just simpler plans to un- derstand and of course have a degree of affordability that in today's economy, employees re- ally value… I think you up your chances of participation if it's something that employees can easily understand and make a simple choice about, rather than trying to sort of drive them to the well to learn more." Another option is welcome programs for employees. A few years back, Economical intro- duced one in partnership with its provider, said Buchanan. "We wanted to stem that sort of behaviour, that lull or that lack of information, that gap when they start," she said. "So they're very much engaged from day one in the programs that we offer and knowing the age and stage that that individual is at — it could be somebody who's just entering the workforce, it could somebody who is well-es- tablished in their career, so they have different needs... they make the connection right away with the provider and they also have access to additional resources, whether that be investment advice and/or a financial advisor as well. So (it's about) really making that commitment to them the minute they walk through the door and having an understanding of those resources that are available." Sun Life also introduced a wel- come solution program that's had an incredible impact, said Dan- iels, adding it can be done over the phone, with little paperwork to confuse people. "What it's translated to is a bit of a tiered approach in terms of contribution scales," he said, add- ing many employees are now con- tributing at the maximum. "A lot of that was because of the implementation of this reach-out program when people are first en- rolled. So that way, they're in from the gates and then it's a matter of just furthering their learning, so it can be incredibly powerful if the employees have nothing to do but to say yes or no over the phone. I think it's that path of least resis- tance — people are always looking for that and it's an easy way to get enrolled." Gauging knowledge What would also be helpful would be some kind of questionnaire that assesses a person's financial situation, said Daniels. "I know in the U.S. they've at- tempted programs like this where they'll analyze an individual's statement and indicate a green, a red or a yellow light to indicate where they need to pay a little bit more attention," he said. "I would love to bring some- thing like that to our population or create a questionnaire that re- ally assesses somebody's overall financial wellness." As one solution, Wiginton cited an eight-question scale by the Per- sonal Financial Employee Educa- tion Foundation in the U.S. "It doesn't really focus on how much money you have, it doesn't focus on wealth and that kind of stuff; it focuses on 'How do you feel about money?' And… 'Does this stress you out in this type of situation?'; 'Are you able to do it or are you not able to do it?'" he said. "Because it's such a quick, short, simple survey, it gets a high completion rate, it gets really high standards and marks." And on the data analytics side, providers can give employers lots of breakout data, said Briant. "If you look at the categories that people are accessing help for, that's a great guide for you as an organization to think about where you want to put your resources. Because if it's 30 per cent on fi- nancial distress, then that's quite a signal." Employer's role But there's a healthy discussion to be had around the degree of involvement employers feel they should have in an employee's life cycle, said Briant. "ey have full lives that we know very little about outside and lots of different family circum- stances. And so I think that the starting conversation shouldn't be 'It's the right thing to do' but 'What's the level of involvement that is appropriate?'" she said. "ere's an endless list of items that you could help employees with and... you need to make those choices." Companies definitely have a role to play in helping employees reach that end goal around finan- cial wellness, said Daniels. "We know that financial stress is one of the stressors out there that affects people from a mental wellness standpoint. So it's defi- nitely a component that we feel is important." Employers have a role to play — but it's just one component, said Rubenyan. "At the very least, I think as sponsors and employers, you should have a very clear strategy and say, 'is is what we're go- ing to do. is is our plan,'" he said. "It's really around providing the right information, the right education and helping employ- ees know where to go if they need information." Frank Wiginton, financial wellness expert Vatche Rubenyan, Rogers Communications Naren Daniels, Sun Life Financial Lianne Buchanan, Economical Heather Briant, Cineplex Welcome programs help FINDING < pg. 8 "We wanted to stem that sort of behaviour, that lull or that lack of information, that gap when they start."

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