WorkLife Partnership is committed to modeling job quality best practices inside its own workplace and with the businesses it serves with its Workplace Resource Navigation programming. Despite its modest size–35 full-time employees–WorkLife has made pay and benefits for its own workforce an organizational priority, in turn securing not only robust employee retention but also providing opportunities for employees to thrive and grow with the organization as it scales its work nationally. This session will establish a foundational understanding of how financial wellness fits into the social determinants of health and examine the many facets of financial well-being. The introduction will include a combination of national and WorkLife’s data to demonstrate financial vulnerability among specific worker populations including Black, Latinx, and female workers. Using WorkLife’s experience as a small employer, the session will demonstrate how small and medium-sized businesses can launch and sustain programs that address the various factors that influence an individual’s financial well-being. Sunny Day Fund–an employer matched savings program–will speak to the current political, social and business pressures that make it more important than ever for businesses to embrace a more holistic approach to employee financial well-being.
Learning Objectives
After completing this session, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the role economic stability and mobility play in health equity and social determinants of health.
2. Navigate current policy, social and business pressures to support present and future financial well-being of their workforces.
3. Evaluate economic mobility disparities by gender, race and other demographics among low- and moderate-wage employees and learn at least 5 impactful ways to address these disparities via financial wellness offerings.