Video tutorial: Why communication is key to getting employees to manage their financial future

Communication is key to actually getting employees to engage in their financial future, according to Jeanette Makings, head of financial education at Close Brothers. “The bridge between information and action is communication,” she said.

Speaking at the REBA Reward Leaders’ Forum 2018 she said the challenge was about genuinely engaging people with such communication. “We live in an environment where there’s lots of communication noise,” she said.

To rise above such noise she explained the key communication principles of repeating the message, keeping it clear, short and simple and not just using one medium to communicate with people.

She said engagement was a different thing – where people actually ingest what you are telling them. Involving your people and providing targeted communication was key to acheiving engagement, she said.

Simon Williams, financial planner at Close Brothers, also took to the stage at the event to speak to delegates as though they were employers, illustrating how to communicate to staff around their future financial choices.

Williams said staff were being deluged with financial information but individuals weren’t necessarily able to apply such information to themselves and so needed better communication of what was already available. “At present we are lost in translation,” he said.

This video was recorded at the REBA Reward Leaders’ Forum 2018 in London on 18 April 2018.