FinWell Forum 2019

Video tutorial: Phillip Coggan of The Economist on financial wellbeing and the UK economy

Employee financial wellbeing is evolving.

Employers are now more engaged than ever with delivering financial wellbeing strategies and there is a hunger to move beyond the tactics and products already in place.

With strategic adoption being in its infancy though, where do we go from here?

What role does the employer have in financial matters of the individual?
What do you include in a financial wellbeing strategy?
How does it align with your wider wellbeing strategy?
Are there practical examples of what actually works?
What outcomes can be expected?

To address these questions, we launched FinWell Forum - REBA’s first dedicated financial wellbeing conference.

Download speaker presentations below:

Speakers

Alan Becken

UK Retirement & Leavers Policy Lead

Alex Henley

Pensions Technical Officer

Amy Goodwin

Head of Reward & Wellbeing

Claudia Neira Torne

Workplace health consultant

Corinne Kelt

Human Resources Director

Deborah Astles

HR Director, Policy and Corporate Responsibility

Dr Duncan Brown

Independent Reward Adviser and Researcher

Heather Cooper

Chief People Officer

Jeremy Milton

Principal DC & Financial Wellness Commercial Leader

Jim Cowan

Head of Benefits

Jo Fairweather

Head of Reward & Wellbeing

Nicola Wells

Global Reward Director

Philip Coggan

Columnist

Richard Chataway

Founder

Sophie Haynes

HR & Reward Transformation Manager

Tracey Newton

Director of People Performance

Amanda Diston

SVP Reward and Talent, AVEVA Global

Mirka Slater

EMEA Benefits Team Lead, Meta

On 7th March 2019, over 100 senior reward and benefit specialists from top companies came together to examine the issues, identify solutions, and explore consensus on employee financial wellbeing strategy best practice.

They investigated topics such as pay, insurance, discount schemes, debt management, financial education, savings, pensions, technology and 'at' and 'post' retirement solutions throughout the day.

With case studies, practical presentations, and much of the day given over to discussion groups, the format of the forum was sympathetic to the early stages nature of the topic and encouraged collaboration and sharing of experience and ideas.

Take a look at the full programme from the day...

Event Programme 2019

08.45 - Registration and breakfast

09.15 - Chair's welcome and introduction

09:30 - Opening keynote address: Financial wellbeing and the UK economy

Philip Coggan, columnist for The Economist and author of Paper Promises and Money Machine, will explore the relationship between big-picture economics and individuals' financial wellbeing.

• What do current economic events mean for employees' personal finances?
• Will we continue to see personal debt levels rise? Is in-work poverty a long-term trend?
• What effect will the economy have on employees' short, medium and long-term savings plans - and how could that affect career decisions, such as retirement
• Will automation and AI change the way that we manage our money in future?
• What do these trends mean for the workplace and how should employers respond?
Philip Coggan, Columnist, The Economist

10.00 - Choice of real-life case studies with practical takeaways to implement
Pick the topics most relevant for you and your current financial wellbeing challenges.

Case study 1: Financial wellbeing - putting employees’ needs at the centre  
Financial wellbeing is key in supporting Shell’s corporate strategy ‘must have’ of employee health and safety
• Financial wellbeing is more than just a stand-alone benefit; it needs to be woven throughout the entire benefits package
• To unlock financial wellbeing, the question is what employees need, not what can be provided
• Breadth of offering, accessibility, coordinated communications and personalisation drive engagement
• Insight informs the roadmap and key measures demonstrate success
Alan Becken, UK Retirement & Leavers Policy Lead, Shell in association with Close Brothers

Case study 2: How to communicate a financial wellbeing strategies to
one of the largest and diverse workforces in the UK
Learn how The Co-operative Group has embedded
financial wellbeing into their culture.
This case study will deep dive into the challenges that
they overcame when communicating their financial wellbeing
offering to a diverse workforce of over 63,000.
Alex Henley, Pensions Technical Officer, The Co-operative Group in association with Neyber

Case study 3: How to create a joined-up approach to financial wellbeing
Chief People Officer Heather Cooper explains the company’s approach to
financial wellbeing, the challenges it has faced and the success achieved:
• Why Hargreaves Lansdown introduced a financial wellbeing programme
• How the company explored employees’ needs and what it found
• Ways to build a communications and engagement mix
• Examples of how staff at different life stages have benefitted
• What worked well and what the company might have done differently
• Ways of measuring success
• Future plans
Heather Cooper, Chief People Officer, Hargreaves Lansdown in association with Hargreaves Lansdown

Case study 4: Innovation in workplace savings
OVO's young workforce wanted a financial wellbeing offering
products that resonated with them and the challenges problems
they are facing today. That meant the energy services provider had to
think beyond pensions and retirement savings to engage them. 
In this case study, Joanna Fairweather will explain: 
• Why OVO needed to rethink its approach to financial wellbeing and build on its existing benefits offering
• How it decided what benefits to offer to its workforce and how it introduced them 
• Imaginative ways to engage employees - and keep them engaged
• What OVO has learnt and how it has measured success
Jo Fairweather, Head of Reward & Wellbeing, OVO Energy in association with Smarterly

10:50 - Networking and refreshment break

11.20 - Employer panel session: Future directions for financial wellbeing

Reward industry experts discuss current innovations in financial wellbeing, how they have used these in their own organisations and what they think the future of financial wellbeing will look like.
• How to identify employees' changing financial needs - and ways to address those changes
• Future priorities and directions for financial wellbeing
• Innovations in the financial wellbeing market and how to use new offerings to address employees' needs
• The long-term view - future directions
Mirka Slater, Benefits Manager, Facebook
Jim Cowan, Head of Benefits, RBS Group
Amanda Diston, Director - International Total Rewards, Cisco International
Amy Goodwin, Head of Reward & Wellbeing, Mundipharma

12:00 - Selection of tactical and strategic financial wellbeing roundtable discussion groups
In these sponsor facilitated discussions, delegates will share their experiences and learn more about the essential components of financial wellbeing.

Financial wellbeing for high earners - led by Hargreaves Lansdown
As more employees become affected by the Tapered Annual Allowance (TAA) and the Lifetime Allowance (LTA), traditional pensions are becoming a less effective way, especially for high earners, to save for retirement. This roundtable will discuss methods of rewarding employees who can no longer contribute sufficient amounts to pensions, and looks at alternative ways to help them invest for later life. 

Workplace savings: how do you engage everyone - led by Smarterly
Pensions dominate the landscape but they don't engage all employees all of the time. With ongoing tax and economic changes coupled with changing financial priorities, pensions on their own do not tick all the boxes in a diverse workplace. How are employers building financial wellbeing strategies that supports and engage all employees across different age groups and earnings levels?

Financial advice and guidance in the workplace - led by Lorica
This roundtable will explore the reasons how offering financial advice and guidance can benefit employees, discuss barriers to introducing it and examine concerns around employer liability.

One solution doesn’t fit all: how to reframe your financial wellbeing strategy in the language of the Board and CEO - led by Salary Finance
In this roundtable, delegates will be encouraged to share methods of building a business case for their financial wellbeing strategy, while highlighting the key steps to creating and implementing a strategy based around the needs of their employees.
• Explore the link between financial wellbeing and mental health
• How do employers link financial wellbeing and productivity/retention?
• Factors affecting which financial wellbeing benefits are best suited to your workforce?
• What are the most important things to do, to make a financial wellbeing strategy effective?

Understanding individual needs: how to create an inclusive financial wellbeing strategy - led by Wealth Wizards
This roundtable will encourage participants to look at the importance of understanding the needs of employees before providing a solution.
• Understanding the needs of your individual employees
• Using this data to develop a scalable plan of action
• Using personalisation to address the priorities and needs of your workforce

How to implement a multi generational financial wellbeing strategy - led by Neyber
Many employees feel in the dark with their finances and the impact of this is being felt in the workplace. This roundtable will discuss:
• The role of research and segmentation
• Discuss what savings package appeal to all demographics of the workforce
• Explore ideas to empower employees with financial education ranging from debt management to pre retirement planning
• Secrets of successful employee engagement and share experiences of multi media comms channels
• What providers are in the market that support your strategy

Measuring financial wellbeing to design a tailored solution for your employees and your organisation - led by Close Brothers
• Defining financial wellbeing
• Measuring the financial wellbeing score for your organisation
• Identifying the key areas and employees groups most at risk
• Using these diagnostics to design a tailored financial wellbeing strategy and measuring its effectiveness post implementation

How to engage your employees using technology - led by Smart Pension
• Tactics to engage staff with pensions
• New technology
• Using data to profile and report
• How to create interest in investment options and default funds
• Capturing the imagination of employees around their financial wellbeing

Developing the right financial wellness strategy - Learning lessons from successful financial and health frameworks in the UK and wider International wellbeing space - led by Mercer
In this session we’ll share experiences and discuss the approaches to achieve a more integrated health and financial wellbeing programme – both for single country strategies and also for organisations looking to develop greater consistencies across regions.
• Developing effective guiding frameworks and the principles (single country / multi-national)
• Achieving consistency and recognising the link between your health and financial wellbeing programmes
• Shared learnings from the emerging practice – Deciding between tactical or strategic interventions

12.45 - Networking lunch

13.45 - Choice of real-life case studies with practical takeaways to implement
Pick the topics most relevant for you and your current strategic financial wellbeing challenges.

Case study 5: Delivering financial wellbeing to a remote workforce
How do you deliver a top quality financial wellbeing programme to employees
based in multiple locations (in this case on oil rigs), with unusual shift patterns? 
Corinne Kelt, Human Resources Director of oil manufacturer Chrysaor will explore:
• Chrysaor’s reasons for focusing on financial wellbeing
• How it created and delivered a programme to its remote workforce and the challenges
involved in doing so
• The results and how it measured them
• Future plans and what the company has learned
Corinne Kelt, Human Resources Director, Chrysaor in association with Lorica

Case study 6: Personalised financial wellbeing - how to make it happen
Unilever takes pride in its well established wellbeing framework and continually
explores ways to ensure employees are best supported.
Join this session to learn about their recent financial wellbeing pilot initiative
where they empowered their employees with the knowledge to understand their
financial health and feel more confident in making informed financial priorities/decisions.
This case study will deep dive into the potential of personalised financial wellbeing and
the benefit this can bring for both employees and employers.
Nicola Wells, Global Reward Director & Sophie Haynes, HR & Reward Transformation Manager,
Unilever in association with Wealth Wizards

Case study 7: Encouraging employee savings
- as part of a solid financial wellbeing programme
This case study will explore the motivation behind
as well as the details of Unipart’s current
financial wellbeing strategy, and how helping employees
build up savings plays an integral part within in.
The session will deliver practical insight into
delivering an effective employee savings initiative
to build financial resilience and boost employee wellbeing
as part of a broader financial wellbeing programme.
Deborah Astles, HR Director - Policy & Corporate Responsibility,
Unipart Group in association with Salary Finance

Case study 8: Building a culture of financial wellbeing
• Encouraging employees to take ownership of their financial health
• Building saving reserves to avoid financial anxiety
• Supporting employees with tools and resources
• Linking to wider mental and physical wellbeing
• The role of line managers and leadership
Tracey Newton, Director of People Performance, YBS Group

14:35 - 'Joining the dots' to create a holistic financial wellbeing strategy linked to broader wellbeing and benefits strategy

There’s an accepted correlation between financial and health wellbeing – how do you make the most of it – and how might the wellbeing agenda drive benefit packages of the future? 
Jeremy Milton, Principal DC & Financial Wellness Commercial Leader & Claudia Neira Torne, Workplace Health Consultant, Mercer

14:45 - Employer led roundtables on how to 'join the dots' and create a holistic financial wellbeing strategy linked to broader wellbeing, benefits, HR and business strategy.

15.25 - Networking and refreshment break

15:50 - Closing address:

The business of behaviour
Our first speaker, Richard Chataway, will explore ways in which employers and their partners can use behavioural insights to drive changes in behaviour, when it comes to making financial decisions.
• What makes people develop healthier financial habits?
• How can employers help their employees to make real, sustainable changes to their finances?
Richard Chataway, Founder, Communication Science Group

Employee financial wellbeing - why don't all employers get it?
In our second closing keynote session, Duncan Brown, will be looking at why so many employers and HR functions are deliberately not providing financial education and advice, when research evidence is showing that its impact is positive.
• Why employee financial wellbeing is important, and a multi-stakeholder approach to improving it
• Findings from the latest Institute of Employment Studies research, carried out with the CIPD for the Money Advice Service
• Why are some employers doing a great job on financial wellbeing - and why are too many not?
• How can reward and benefits professionals engage their boards and make meaningful progress?
Duncan Brown, Head of Consulting, Institute for Employment Studies

16:30 - Chair’s closing remarks and close of Forum

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