Case study: A share in value is the starting point for employee financial wellbeing at Wella
Wella has private equity backing from KKR, an investment firm that only invests in companies that create a share in value for employees. Last year, we began offering private equity participation to every single employee. When the company does well, there will be a financial benefit for everyone.
Raising the level of financial literacy among the workforce is crucial to encouraging them. We’re aligning our benefits programme – WOW (We Own Our Way) – with incentives and financial education. Not everyone has had access to investment advice or financial management advice.
One of the first things we did was to change the provider of our employee assistance programme in January 2024. Typically, people go to an EAP when they are already having problems. We wanted a service that was more proactive. Our provider now offers advice and counselling across wellbeing pillars but also pushes tailored information to people. This helps shape people’s thinking and how they approach their personal finances before they get to a situation where they need help.
We’ve also rolled out a series of financial wellbeing sessions globally, sharing with people what they should know. Then we started to break it into groups. During International Women’s Day, we ran a session focusing on women and finance and what’s important to them. This year, we’re rolling out three sessions that are focused on different career stages.
Measurement is a central part of these programmes. We’re already seeing improved usage of the EAP. Once this year’s employee engagement survey with its wellbeing index – which allows us to measure the impact of our initiatives – is finished, we will be able to see how effective the education sessions have been.
We want to ramp up education and awareness of financial wellbeing, so we’re giving people the tools to make informed choices. We cannot be everything to everyone, but we want to be able to provide different options to everybody. So we have focused on a competitive rewards programme that addresses the challenges of higher inflation, brings more people into incentive programmes and increases total compensation for employees so that they share in the company’s success.
