Many employers have made bold commitments to health equity in recent years, investing in mental health, addressing social determinants of health (SDOH), and building more inclusive benefits packages. In fact, Brown & Brown estimates that 95% of employers have adopted at least one strategy to improve health equity among diverse employee populations. Yet one key factor that quietly undermines an employer’s health equity effort is often overlooked: financial illness.
Read on to learn why HR teams committed to advancing health equity must prioritize support for financially unhealthy employees, who are disproportionately frontline workers, women, caregivers, and people of color.
Financial health is health equity
Not only is financial health a key social determinant of health, but it also affects how people sleep, eat, show up to and perform at work, and how, if, and when they access healthcare. With 70% of Americans not considered financially healthy, this is a workforce issue directly impacting employers and driving costs.
According to Brown & Brown, health inequities:
- Contribute to higher rates of illness, shorter life expectancy, and increased healthcare spending that may exceed $1 trillion by 2040 if unaddressed.
- Create productivity losses that cost U.S. employers $3,600 per hourly employee each year.
Employers must also remember that frontline employees interact with customers, support patients, stock shelves, fulfill orders, and deliver products and services. Their financial stress accompanies them to work, directly impacting customer experience, safety outcomes, and operational stability.
Why traditional financial wellness benefits don’t advance health equity
Many employers offer employees 401(k) plans, budgeting tools, financial education programs, and access to financial coaching or CFP-led financial planning. Some also provide early wage access or workplace emergency savings accounts.
Employers often believe that these benefits mean they have adequate employee financial support in place. Yet, this common misperception dooms their health equity strategy. Why? Traditional financial wellness benefits don’t offer solutions to help financially unhealthy employees deal with and overcome the challenges that hold them back.
Consider these examples:
- An employee facing eviction may qualify for free resources, including housing, food, and utility assistance, but a financial planner isn’t trained to help them connect with and navigate them.
- A budgeting tool doesn’t help an employee qualify for an affordable and safe loan so she can repair the brakes on the car needed to get to and from work safely.
- An employee drowning in debt and struggling with everyday money problems doesn’t have funds to contribute to their 401(k), until their immediate financial challenges are addressed.
- An employee who can’t afford prescribed medication might find short-term help from early wage access or a workplace emergency savings account. But what happens when the bills keep coming?
These are real examples of the financial challenges that frontline employees and underserved populations often face. These are also the scenarios that employers who want to improve health equity must equip their employees to address.
What real financial health support looks like
With just 13% of frontline workers considered financially healthy, most need support reaching the foundational level of financial wellbeing: the financial stability to cover daily expenses. Traditional employee financial wellness benefits aren’t made to do this. That critical gap in the employee financial benefits space is why we created Financial Care.
Our model includes one-on-one support with empathetic Brightside Financial Assistants who are trained in behavioral science to meet people where they are without judgment. They connect employees with free resources that help support their baseline financial stability whenever possible, along with other carefully vetted solutions on our platform that protect employees’ financial health. They also make it easy for employees to take steps that improve their financial health, including doing the legwork to help them take action when necessary.
The impact Financial Care had on Kylie
Kylie (whose name has been changed to protect her privacy) is a nursing assistant earning $34,000 a year. When she had to be hospitalized for seven days due to illness, the loss of income and time off work caused her to quickly spiral financially.
- She fell behind on all of her bills and needed over $2,000 to cover essentials like rent, her car payment, and utilities.
- With limited funds, she was struggling even to afford groceries.
- She became unable to make payments on her credit cards, accumulating over $16,000 in debt.
Here’s how Brightside Financial Care helped treat Kylie’s immediate financial illness and stabilized her financial health.
- Free food resources. Kylie and her Financial Assistant considered food a top priority, as Kylie had nothing in her home to get her through the week. They immediately began exploring local resources and found an organization that offered ongoing grocery support at no cost. Kylie was able to pick up food immediately.
- Emergency money. Next, Kylie and her Financial Assistant focused on the bills she had fallen behind on. Her Financial Assistant helped Kylie identify and apply for an employer-sponsored grant that provided $2,000, giving her just enough to pay off all her overdue bills, including rent, her car payment, and utilities.
- Debt paydown plan. With her immediate needs covered, Kylie and her Financial Assistant reviewed different repayment strategies to make her debt payments more manageable. After exploring options, Kylie decided to consolidate all of her credit card debt into a single, lower payment, which significantly reduced her monthly payments and saved her $14,000 in interest and fees.
Because Kylie’s employer had prioritized support for these types of situations as part of its health equity strategy, what could have become a disastrous financial situation was quickly resolved.
Solutions beyond tools and tips
In addition to personalized support and free resources, Brightside’s platform includes a breadth of solutions that address all financial needs, including free savings and spending accounts, safe paycheck-linked loans, debt and credit management, and free tools that help employees find money and save on needs like car insurance and fuel. Whenever relevant, Financial Assistants also help employees navigate to and use their other employer benefits, boosting the impact of any benefits strategy.
Care that lasts as long as employees need it
Brightside users and adult members of their household have unlimited access to their Financial Assistant as long as they have Brightside as a benefit, to encourage a lasting relationship that helps them take continued steps to improved financial health. Financial Care treats financial illness the same way you’d treat any other health condition impacting your workforce.
Learn more about why Brightside Financial Care must be part of the core strategy for any organization prioritizing health equity.
