A new partnership will bring content from the Financial Planning
Association (FPA) to clients of LifeCare, a company providing work/life
services aimed at improving employee focus, productivity and loyalty.
The FPA content will be delivered through a new education hub being established on LifeCare’s client platform. The partnership also will include initiatives to provide
LifeCare members with an efficient resource center for a spectrum of financial
services to support employee decisionmaking during important life events. The
goal is to help employees establish effective cash flow management and overall financial wellness while also
making one-on-one interaction available with certified financial planners (CFPs).
“FPA is proud to partner with LifeCare to help American
workers receive the financial planning education and guidance they need,” says
FPA Executive Director and CEO Lauren Schadle. “By working with LifeCare, FPA
is able to align its expertise and network of CFP professionals with a national
provider of work/life services.”
Schadle says the partnership creates stronger recognition of
FPA’s expertise and puts the firm in position to educate and assist millions of Americans
with the resources they need to achieve financial security.
The partnership calls for the implementation of additional initiatives and programs that will be phased in throughout 2015.
Among those initiatives is the integration of the FPA PlannerSearch program on
the LifeCare platform to empower employees who desire professional financial
planning expertise, with easy access to CFP professionals and a research
project to study the retirement readiness and awareness of financial planning
among American workers.
LifeCare,
based in Shelton, Connecticut, serves 60 million American workers in more than
61,000 companies. More information is available at www.lifecare.com.
Millennials Open to Employer Prompting on Wellness
Millennials put a lower priority on medical care than do other generations, but they are the most likely to want employers to play an active role in supporting their overall health and well-being.
Millennials
are the least likely to participate in activities focused on prevention and
maintaining or improving physical health compared with other generations,
according to an analysis from Aon Hewitt.
About
half (54%) of Millennials have had a physical in the last 12 months, compared
with 60% of Generation X and 73% of Baby Boomers. In addition, just 39% say
preventive care is one of the most important things to do to stay healthy,
compared with 49% of Generation X and 69% of Baby Boomers.
Millennials
are also less likely to participate in a healthy eating/weight management
programs (21%), compared with Generation X (23%) and Baby Boomers (28%). But
they are the most likely generation to engaging in regular exercise (63%),
compared with 52% of Gen X and 49% of Baby Boomers.
Despite
their relative lack of action around prevention, Aon Hewitt’s analysis says, Millennials
are the most likely generation to embrace support from employers in their
overall health and well-being. More than half (52%) say “living or working in a
healthy environment” is influential to their personal health, compared with 42%
of Gen X and 35% of Baby Boomers.
Millennials
are also more open to having their direct manager play an active role in
encouraging them to get and stay healthy (53%), compared with 47% of Gen X
and 41% of Baby Boomers. Millennials are most likely to participate in an employee assistance
program (16%) compared with Gen X (10%) and Baby Boomers (8%).
“Given their younger
age, most Millennials are relatively healthy, so they may not feel a sense of
urgency to go to the doctor regularly or eat a well-balanced diet,” says Ray
Baumruk, employee research leader at Aon Hewitt. “However, the lack of health
prevention and maintenance when they’re young may lead to greater health risks
as they get older. Employers should communicate the importance of participating
in health-related activities now to avoid serious health issues later in life.”
Karen
Marlo, vice president, National Business Group on Health, agrees. “Employers have
a unique opportunity to engage and motivate the Millennial generation, and they
are likely to get the strongest results by demonstrating the benefits of
establishing healthy habits and behaviors today, not just tomorrow.”
To
effectively reach Millennials, Aon Hewitt experts suggest that employers:
Understand what
motivates them.
It is critical for employers to understand what motivates and engages
Millennials. More than half of this group (55%) report their motivation is “to
look good,” and not as much to “avoid illness.” Employers should tailor their
strategy and communications to show how poor health can impact an individual’s
energy and/or appearance.
Know how to reach
your audience.
Millennials are significantly more likely to prefer mobile applications (apps), texts, or
popular social media channels including Facebook and Twitter (or internal sites such as
Yammer and Chatter) to access both general and personal health information.
Employers should explore social channels such as blogs geared to individuals with
certain health conditions, location-based tools such as Foursquare and
media-sharing sites such as Pinterest. Short-form video sharing services such as Vine
may also be effective channels to reach this generation. Companies should also
take advantage of apps and mobile-friendly websites to help engage employees in
health and wellness campaigns. This might include resources that coordinate an
individual’s fitness, food and stress management programs, resources and
activities. However, regardless of channel, it is important to ensure their
communication delivers the authenticity and hyper-relevance that Millennials
have come to expect in exchange for their attention and action.
Make it easy and
convenient.
Forty percent of Millennials say they are more likely to participate in health
and wellness programs if these are “easy or convenient to do.” Employers should
remove barriers to helping this generation create good health choices and
habits by focusing on programs that meet their work/life balance. For example,
employers should consider implementing walking meetings or group fitness events
or offering on-site health and fitness programs such as yoga or Zumba.
Add an element of
competition.
Millennials are the most likely generation to be interested in “friendly
competitions.” Employers may want to explore adding game mechanics and
player-centric design, as well as competitions to motivate and engage
Millennials. Companywide fitness challenges, or programs providing access
to a social Web platform where individuals can build teams and
initiate their own mini-challenges, may also be effective.
The Aon Hewitt analysis
is based on data from the 2014 Consumer Health Mindset report, a joint survey of more than 2,700 U.S. employees and their dependents
conducted by Aon Hewitt, the National Business Group on Health and The Futures
Company.