Bank card, car, housing, medical, and student-loan debt are creating excessive ranges of monetary stress for a lot of People, negatively affecting their means to take part in employee-benefit applications and adequately put together for retirement. The Metropolis of Memphis is taking steps to assist its staff handle their debt and obtain monetary safety with monetary wellness applications.
Throughout the 2022 Spring Coverage Discussion board hosted lately by the Worker Profit Analysis Institute, Alex Smith, chief HR officer for the Metropolis of Memphis, described a number of the applications town has put in place to assist its staff handle debt, probably enhance their work engagement, and improve their retirement planning.
In keeping with Smith, the aim of the Metropolis of Memphis is to construct an engaged workforce that can work to enhance the standard of life for all the individuals of Memphis, each day. To assist its staff handle their debt obligations and scale back monetary stress, the Metropolis of Memphis affords a number of progressive monetary literacy and monetary well being applications, which Smith described. These applications embrace:
Free Monetary Counseling. This program gives one-on-one counseling with a monetary advisor, in-person and digital workshops on a wide range of matters, together with establishing and rising credit score scores, making a finances, cash administration, and residential possession. In keeping with a 2021 overview of this system, Smith stated, 74% of staff noticed an enchancment of their credit score scores and 33% of staff achieved a rating of 660 or above and a +15 level FICO-score change.
Scholar Mortgage Contribution. The Metropolis of Memphis affords scholar mortgage contributions within the quantity of $50 a month to its staff. To qualify for this program, staff should work full time and have 12 consecutive months of employment. In 2021, Smith stated, 522 staff had been enrolled on this program, which has generated over $313k in financial savings ($600 in financial savings yearly per worker).
Tuition Reimbursement. Workers who’re eligible for this program can obtain help with tuition and costs of as much as $3,000 for undergraduate/graduate diploma applications and $2,000 for certificates applications per fiscal yr. From 2020-2021, 175 staff had been enrolled in this system, and reimbursements totaled greater than $422k.
Membership in Memphis Worker Credit score Union. The Metropolis of Memphis gives new staff with a free financial savings account and free membership within the Memphis Worker Credit score Union. There may be additionally a $100 provide to new checking account members, in addition to direct-deposit and payroll-deduction alternatives.
Members of the credit score union even have a number of account choices, together with IRAs, cash market, and CDs. As well as, they take pleasure in low rates of interest on car, mortgage, and debt- consolidation loans.
Retirement Assist Program. Underneath this program, staff obtain a wide range of companies, together with one-on-one counseling for help with retirement plan enrollment, investing and account critiques.
As well as, they get assist with debt discount earlier than they retire and entry to a full-service, financial-wellness web site that options matters on retirement transitioning, sensible spending, financial savings, investing, and property planning. Workers are also supplied with a retirement calculator to find out how a lot cash they might want to cowl their desired retirement life.
Debt-Administration Applications
Throughout her presentation, Smith recommended a number of steps organizations can take to successfully rework the debt-management applications they provide to their staff. Smith really helpful organizations problem the established order, conduct a wants evaluation of their staff to find out their particular wants and needs, construct efficient partnerships, have interaction in purposeful communication with all stakeholders, and all the time attempt to be versatile and adaptable.
Ayo Mseka has greater than 30 years of expertise reporting on the financial-services trade. She previously served as Editor-In-Chief of NAIFA’s Advisor In the present day journal. Contact her at [email protected].
© Complete contents copyright 2022 by InsuranceNewsNet. All rights reserved. No a part of this text could also be reprinted with out the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.