Understanding the Link Between Worker Satisfaction and Financial Wellness
Worker satisfaction is contingent upon many things, and since only 20% of Americans report being passionate about their job, it may be safe to assume that a significant portion of the workforce experiences low levels of job satisfaction.
Factors such as fair compensation, opportunities for growth and development, positive work culture, work-life balance, and meaningful work can all contribute to worker satisfaction, but unfortunately, these elements are not always present in every workplace.
At the conclusion of The Plan Sponsor University (TPSU) Fiduciary Education Program held in Jacksonville, Florida at The University of North Florida, Founder and CEO Fred Barstein spoke with Adjunct Lecturer Lindsay Sawicki, a Financial Advisor for West Point Business Group, a local advisory firm in Jacksonville, Florida. Sawicki discusses the importance of giving employees a broad understanding of what financial wellness consists of by through financial wellness programs in the workplace.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
This is Fred Barstein, CEO and Founder of TPSU at the University of North Florida. Just completed a TPSU program. And I’m here with one of our adjunct lecturers, Lindsay Sawicki?
Lindsay Sawicki:
Yes.
Fred Barstein:
Okay if we ask you a few questions?
Lindsay Sawicki:
Of course.
Fred Barstein:
Great. So before we do, tell us a little bit about you and your firm.
Lindsay Sawicki:
Well, I’m a financial advisor with West Point Business Group. We’re a local advisory firm here in Jacksonville, Florida. We have clients of all different sizes across the United States. Our focus is really assisting clients and businesses with their corporate retirement plan in all different shapes and sizes. So whether that’s a defined benefit plan, a 401(k) plan, a 403(b), deferred compensation plan, that really is our focus and our expertise. We like to form really strong one-on-one relationships with our clients, and then of course, stay at the cusp of the industry with all the changes that are continually happening.
Fred Barstein:
Great. So today you talked about financial wellness. I know it’s hard for people because how do they get their employees to engage and use it? So what are the clients who are successful at financial wellness, what are they doing?
Lindsay Sawicki:
Well, financial wellness has really grown as an industry over the recent, memorable time period. What used to be just kind of an add-on to a 401(k) program that maybe was just an education meeting here and there, really centered on the 401(k), has changed a lot. And so where we see a lot of success is where financial wellness incorporates a lot of other topics. So that can be basic things like credit and budgeting, insurance, other company benefits that maybe they’re not taking full advantage of, but really helping employees who have little to no financial knowledge or confidence weigh those different competing goals for their dollar.
And I think we see the most success when companies and our clients just dive right in and they say, “We’re going to formalize this program. We’re going to select a vendor that uses technology to our advantage, and we’re going to do it year after year so that those employees have repeat interactions and they get to feel that happy feeling where they’re progressing little by little towards their goals.” And what’s really cool is now a lot of the financial wellness programs that we work with a lot report actual results back to the employer. So that’s really encouraging when you can see as the employer, that your population of employees is really becoming more financially secure and happy.
Fred Barstein:
Right. Great. Well, that’s great. It’s good that you’re getting it to work and it also helps with new clients because it differentiates you a little bit, not just the same old fees, funds and fiduciary, right?
Lindsay Sawicki:
Yes. I mean, I think that a lot of our clients have heard that over and over: fees, funds, fiduciary, and that’s all really important. But we have to remember that the whole point of a retirement plan is actually to make employees retirement ready and feel more financially secure. And there’s so much more that can be done outside of the 401(k) plan that we’re really seeing it take hold a lot.
Fred Barstein:
So this was your first TPSU program. Why should plan sponsors come? What’s the benefit for them to come to a program like this?
Lindsay Sawicki:
Well, I mean, obviously we’ve known about TPSU for some time. We’re really honored to be invited as a lecturer. It’s really unique in that it provides a really high level of education across a wide variety of topics. What kind of stood out to me was there were participants in the room for the program today from all different types of companies with all different types of pain points, and yet there were common themes throughout various sizes of companies and industries. So I think that the people who were here today got to interact a lot with one another, learn from one another, but also get to hear from some real experts in the industry that were brought in special for today.
Fred Barstein:
Thanks for your time and thanks for participating and supporting TPSU.
Lindsay Sawicki:
Thank you.
Fred Barstein:
And thank you for watching 401kTV. Stay tuned.
