Video tutorial: How to move to a new financial wellbeing approach

Organisations must think of their employees as individuals and target them appropriately if their financial communications programmes are to be a success, according to Mark Rowlands, head of DC and financial wellness services at Mercer.

Watch the Mercer session ‘From tactical to strategic - moving away from a traditional benefits approach and toward a financial wellbeing programme’ in full.

Speaking alongside his colleague Niall O’Callaghan, consumer leader UK and Ireland, at the REBA Reward Leaders' Forum, Rowlands said that things were changing fast. “Advances in data and the advances in technology are moving us to a place where we can absolutely do things differently and better but using what we have done to date as the foundation stones,” he said.

However to drive behaviour change needs three steps, he said. “You have to generate the need and you have to make it easy and way to do this is to personalise,” he said.

“If you take one thing away [from this session] then it’s forget cohorts and segments and generational analysis because it doesn’t work. You have to be able to treat everybody in your organisation as an individual and that’s what data and fintech is going to enable us to do in terms of how benefits are designed and communicated,” he said.

“We are at the foothills of a massive change in the way in which we communicate benefits, provide benefits and engage our people in the workforce,” said O’Callaghan. “And it’s down to that availability of data and the ability to not just personalise communications but also the nature of the benefits we provide and deliver them in a way that connects with people emotionally and at the right time,” he said.

This video tutorial was filmed at the REBA Reward Leaders' Forum which took place on 27 April 2017.