Benefits leaders increasingly recognize that financial wellness benefits are just as essential to employee compensation as health insurance and retirement plans. With 73% of Americans saying they are financially stressed, it’s easy to see why financial wellness is taking center stage. 

But that presents a broad challenge for HR leaders. How do you offer a wide range of financial wellness benefits, then customize those offerings to fit the specific needs of individual employees who range from C-suite executives to entry-level new hires?

The best strategy? Make it personal, says Erin Donahue, CFP®, CPA/PFS, CMA, CGMA, and director of advice strategy at Northstar. Northstar’s financial wellness program provides individualized guidance to employees of every level to help them better utilize their total compensation package and make financial decisions. From Day One spoke with Donahue about how HR leaders can personalize financial wellness benefits to fit the needs of all employees. 

“We’ve found that matching employees at every level with one of our Certified Financial Planners can be the best way to build trust and offer solutions,” Donahue said.  An advisor can answer specific compensation and benefits questions, look at an employee’s overall financial picture, assist with any problems and help set and achieve financial goals. These are all things most benefits managers simply aren’t equipped to do.

“Say someone comes in with a question about their employer’s student loan benefit. The person isn’t sure if they should be using it or not,” Donahue said. The employee would be matched with a Northstar Advisor who has been trained on their benefits and would answer that specific question and assist the employee in signing up for any appropriate benefits.

But the relationship doesn’t end there. The advisor would continue to work with the employee on an ongoing basis. The student loan question would likely lead to more talks about the employee’s finances, including challenges and goals well beyond paying off college debt, says Donahue. Budgeting, managing debt and building healthy money habits are all part of the financial foundations covered in Northstar’s personalized financial wellness program.

What’s more, the CFP®, who is not on commission of any type and has a fiduciary duty to the employee, is free to recommend solutions outside of the employer’s benefit package, building trust and alleviating financial stress in a more holistic way. In many cases, employee financial goals can be directly supported by taking advantage of employer benefits. The CFP® is well-versed in what the company offers and can make recommendations that are personally relevant, making it much more likely the employee will sign up,” Donahue said. Once an employee is matched with an advisor, they work together for as long as desired on any number of financial concerns. 

This personal approach can pay off for both employees and employers. After meeting with a Northstar Advisor, 94% of employees report an increase in their financial confidence and 85% report a reduction in their financial stress. Importantly, 69% of employees took action on advisor recommendations and 63% followed benefit-specific advice, reports Northstar. 

Out-of-the-Box Solutions

When there’s a personal relationship, financial advisors can help employees make the most of their benefits in surprising ways. 

Donahue points to an example of one employee who was looking to buy a house in the next year or so. The employee has free cash flow that he can use to save for the down payment and he’s also eligible for his company’s stock purchase plan.  

“Stock purchase plans can be a little bit invisible,” says Donahue. “People think, ‘Oh, that’s for high-level executives and long-term investing, it can’t help me meet short term goals.’” But in this case, the Northstar Advisor was able to point out that if the employee enrolls in his stock purchase plan, assuming the plan offers shares at the standard 15% discount, in a year’s time he’ll likely have a return on his house savings much higher than he would get in any high-yield savings account. Northstar’s program integrates benefits, equity, and rewards to help employees maximize their total compensation to achieve their financial goals, such as buying a home, says Donahue. 

Or take the case of a highly compensated employee who’s living paycheck to paycheck. “It happens more than you think,” said Donahue, emphasizing that life events can hit all at once—kids’ tuition, caring for an elderly parent, inflationary cost increases on vital expenses such as insurance—stretching relatively big paychecks to the max. That creates a feeling of financial insecurity and an inability to save for emergencies and the future. 

In these cases, Northstar Advisors can help employees return to budgeting basics and help find ways to reduce expenses. Recently Donahue’s team worked with a couple to help them move from Los Angeles to Atlanta to reduce living expenses and increase savings. For both early career employees and high earners, advisors offer their knowledge to  help employees maximize compensation, whether through budgeting and saving changes or guidance around investing and tax optimization.

Global Mobility

HR leaders have also learned that comprehensive financial wellness benefits need to span the globe. Often benefit managers seek out specific vendors to offer international relocation, tax and investment advice. But at Northstar, global mobility support is integrated into the program and is made possible by Northstar’s team of global financial advisors.

International employees, both relocated Americans and foreign nationals, need the same personalized approach on complex matters, Donahue says. “Often these employees might not know all the questions they need to ask,” she said. For instance, an employee moving to France for a short stint would likely need to learn how to continue retirement savings and other investing in the U.S. while understanding the tax implications and other compliance issues. But, if the same employee were joining family abroad and planning on a permanent move, they would need help navigating France’s pension and investment systems and determining if and when to move their U.S.-based assets to France. In each case, employees need to know how to protect their assets and stay compliant, but under very different circumstances, Donahue says.

Two-Way Communication

A personalized, one-on-one approach doesn’t just serve employees. It often provides the vital information benefit managers need to better understand their workforce. Northstar aggregates and shares the common topics employees are asking about and provides insights on what they need to feel better about their finances. 

Often this information can be more honest and accurate than employer-sponsored financial wellness surveys, simply because employees are more detailed and often more honest with their financial advisor than they might be answering a questionnaire. This kind of feedback can be especially effective when HR leaders consider and launch new benefits. 

In addition, the advisor connection can help employers increase adoption of underutilized benefits. Employees have an objective, professional partner that can explain what benefits are available and how to best use them. “We want to reduce the headaches low-utilization rates can cause HR pros,” said Donahue.

The bottom line: When workforce members get the comprehensive, sophisticated, and personalized advice they need, they’re likely to feel more financially secure, make the most of their employer-provided benefits, meet their financial goals, and feel set up for success at work. “It’s a win-win for everyone,” Donahue said.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Northstar, for supporting this sponsor spotlight. 

Walecia Konrad is an award-winning financial journalist, specializing in the topics of health care, personal finance, and employer-sponsored benefits. Her work has been seen on sites such as CBS MoneyWatch, The New York Times, Money, SmartMoney, BusinessWeek, and Forbes. She has been the recipient of both a Pearl Award for Best Web Publication of the Year and a National Magazine Award for Personal Service.

(Featured photo by RichVintage/iStock by Getty Images)