Diverse voices drive employees' engagement with financial benefits – and beyond

Working Americans expect to see people like themselves in employer communications about retirement planning – and that sets a precedent for communications into and through retirement, according to new research from Edelman Financial Engines.

Women, people of color and people with lower incomes are much less likely to see themselves reflected in corporate communications about financial wellness benefits, and that perception correlates with lower usage of those benefits, the study found. Less than half - 46% - of the employees who felt that they were only occasionally represented ended up using the offered financial wellness benefits. But for employees who did feel consistently represented, 74% used the offered financial wellness benefits.

46%) of employees who felt they were being represented only "occasionally or less" admitted to using their company's financial wellness benefits. Alternatively, nearly three-quarters (74%) who "always or often" felt represented in communications used these same benefits.

And, women often perceived that they were not the target audience, with 68% of the study respondents indicating that the messaging did not include them, compared to 58% of men surveyed.

“The more that you are representing and communicating and personalizing information to the individual, the more it resonates and the more it makes an impact,” said Kelly O’Donnell, EVP and head of workplace for Edelman Financial Engines. Diversity-infused communications, she added, is “an untapped opportunity for employers and advisers to think about the backgrounds and life experiences of … investors and clients.”

Employee engagement with important information about financial benefits is hardly academic: employers’ investment in staff financial well-being fails if people don’t connect with the information.

This year’s MetLife Employee Benefit Trends report found that only 54% of employees think that benefits communication “is relevant to them,” and that’s in a context of employers pressing in to integrate financial, mental and physical health with workplace benefits and culture.

The Edelman data indicates that employees both need to hear the message from people whose identities are similar to theirs, and need to absorb a deeper connection through those stories, said O’Donnell.  And diversity reflects race and gender, but also family makeup, gender identity, and other forms of diversity, she added.

“The more you are representing and communicating and personalizing information to the individual, the more it resonates and the more it makes an impact,” she said.

That dynamic carries forward as employees open relationships with advisors, most often in the retirement transition, O’Donnell said. The Edelman Financial Engines study found that 82% of respondents prefer to work with an adviser who has a similar background or family situation, echoing the results of a study released in April by Ariel-Schwab.

That’s where corporate communications tees up new clients’ expectations for communications with their advisers, she said, and where advisers have the chance to understand elements of heritage and life experience that shape those new clients’ approaches to financial management and retirement life.

Advisers can take cues from employee benefit communications that shape new clients’ financial perspectives, said John Jurik, retirement practice leader at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm.

“For a lot of people, the corporate communication is all they’ve known,” Jurik said. “You have to meet  people where they are.”

Employees increasingly interact with benefits through a range of channels, especially digital, that establish the tone, tenor and technical terms of retirement planning.  “Find a way to engage with those employees along their financial journey. Work with them during their working career, maybe some financial coaching, and then when they do transition to retirement, you’ve got the relationship,” recommended Jurik.

“It’s an opportunity for the adviser to say, ‘tell me how your parents thought about money,’” said O’Donnell. “It’s about deepening beyond gender and racial background, or any type of identity, to really have empathy and understand where this person is coming from. “

[More: People of color getting less financial advice than a year ago]