According to findings released in November 2008 from a SHRM online poll, 83 percent of 450 HR professionals surveyed said their organizations will consider providing employees with financial educational literature and/or workshops by investment specialists.
"The current financial crisis has affected the way Americans are spending their money and how they are saving for the future," says Julie Stitch, a spokesperson for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP). "If the situation persists through 2009, we may see the percentage of employers offering financial education programs increase as they try to help their employees deal with the crisis."
A recent IFEBP report, "Employee Benefits Survey: U.S. and Canada: 2009," found that 43 percent of the 972 respondents surveyed are offering financial education or literacy programs. Among U.S. employers in the corporate sector, 44.5 percent offer employees financial education or a literacy program; 39.8 percent in the private sector do so, according to IFEBP’s report.
Financial literacy programs can take a variety of shapes in the workplace. Some examples include:
- Investment and retirement educational literature
- Training courses on debt management
- One-on-one money management or financial planning advice
- Home-buying preparation
- Planning for the expenses of a child's college education.
A variety of resources on these types of programs can be found at Web sites for the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation (PFEEF), National Endowment for Financial Education, and IFEBP.
"A crucial first step for employers with financial education programs is to help employees identify barriers that are keeping them from getting help with financial worries" and follow it by offering assistance to change their financial behaviors, said Aimee Prawitz, PFEEF director of research, in a press release. These sentiments were echoed by IFEBP President E. Thomas Garman, who urges employers to promote financial literacy.
"Don't just give employees a raise," he says. You should "also give them easy access to quality financial programs that can change behaviors."
Read the ten worst economic predictions of 2008 here.
