| | DECEMBER 2024MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM8Daily headlines highlight how poorly Americans save, fall further into debt, and fail to retire on time. Many employers see these signs and offer assistance in the form of financial well-being programs ­ perhaps as good corporate citizens or because they see the connection between financial stress and performance. Motivation notwithstanding, virtually all indicators suggest their efforts are unsuccessful.As with any complicated issue, many contributing factors can be attributed to the lack of success of financial well-being programs. However, financial illiteracy is central to the problem. A lack of a financial education curriculum in our public educational institutions could be part of the problem, although I will admit teaching money management principles to a teen who's unlikely to have held a job could be challenging.Corporate America deserves credit for its efforts to fix the problem. However, the deck is stacked against us. Over the last several decades, there has been a gradual erosion of the unwritten employer­employee contract. Generally, that contract meant secure employment from companies and loyalty from employees. As part of that equation, employers provided financial security in the form of pensions. Although that represented a reliable source of retirement income and certainty, counting on a pension reduced the need for many workers to be educated on how to plan and save for retirement.As the relationship between employer and employee weakened, introducing 401(k) plans after Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1978 did not help. Over the next couple of decades, U.S. companies aggressively reduced traditional pension plans in favor of 401(k) plans. The typical American, however, was unprepared for the responsibility that came with that shift.By Patrick Simmons, Vice President of Global Compensation & Benefits, EcobatDO FINANCIAL WELL-BEING PROGRAMS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?Patrick SimmonsIn MyOpinion
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