financial education at work

31st July 2013

Jonathan Watts-Lay, Director, WEALTH at work, recently attend a Pay & Benefits roundtable which discussed whether employers need to introduce financial education to their workforce.

Speaking about the importance for employers to offer financial education, Watts-Lay comments “If you take it back to a basic level, you could question why companies offer benefits in the first place. They may be offering them because they believe that they help to attract and retain staff. However, if you don’t believe this as an employer, it raises the question of why you offer them. On the basis that companies are offering a range of benefits because they believe they have some value, the next step is to identify upfront what benefits are applicable to which employees. Employee segmentation is crucial to making financial education meaningful.

There’s not a lot of point talking to 20-year-olds about retirement, although that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be talking about savings and pensions. Conversely, talking about the benefits of childcare vouchers probably isn’t a great deal of help to people who are over 60. Financial education always has to be based on benefits that the employer genuinely believes are relevant, identifying groups of employees and making a meaningful education intervention.”