Chubb Insurance has seen substantial boosts to employee engagement with employer-sponsored financial programs, reduced healthcare costs related to stress and increased productivity across the board.

It’s impossible to ignore the growing animosity between large employers and everyday workers. Data shows that since the 1970s, productivity has continued to increase, while wages have not reflected the same growth. This puts a lot of pressure on the general workforce (particularly low-wage employees) in a hierarchical organization. However, wages are not the only factor that contributes to financial stress and instability.

Companies like Chubb Insurance have highlighted the correlation between financial wellness and employer-sponsored access to financial education and resources. Moreover, this tactic is not just a way to keep workers happy — it also helps improve employee engagement, retention, and overall productivity.

Chubb Insurance on Promoting Financial Wellness

Chubb Insurance is the largest public casualty and property insurance company in the world, operating in 54 countries and territories. With over 31,000 global employees, Chubb Insurance has the ability to track trends and gather feedback from its ever-growing workforce. This, in turn, led the company to develop multiple strategies to help improve employee financial wellness.

In addition to offering competitive wages commiserate with the work performed, Chubb Insurance seeks to give its workforce advanced knowledge and opportunities to grow their long-term wealth. The company’s digital financial-wellness center, also known as the Employee Assistance Program, aims to educate workers with sound budgetary and wealth-management advice.

One of the key benefits available to employees at Chubb Insurance is access to free, 30-minute consultations with financial professionals. Employees can access these consultations in person, by phone, or online up to 8 times per year. This allows Chubb employees to get actionable, personalized financial advice at absolutely no cost. As an added bonus, workers can also access free legal consultations as needed.

However, the Employee Assistance Program doesn’t just offer free advice. As part of a larger campaign to improve worker satisfaction, engagement, and retention, Chubb Insurance has developed several initiatives to target financial pain points for many of its employees. These initiatives include, but are not limited to:

• Personalized assistance to help search for programs or services related to family care, ranging from elder care to home maintenance and repair
• The myStrength wellness tool — an online “health club” to promote mental health among employees and their families
• Financial benefits packages, including a 401(k) employer-matching program (offering 9% employer contributions for every employee contributing at least 6% of their income)

The Effects of Financial Wellness Programs on Employee Engagement

While all of these efforts sound great on paper, it’s important to look at the statistics to see just how much Chubb Insurance helped its employee’s financial wellness — and how much these efforts affect employee engagement, retention, and productivity.

When the Chubb Insurance financial-wellness website first went live in October of 2018, the company recorded an engagement rate of 28%, which meant that 4,100 of its 18,250 North American employees visited the site. Among the visitors who took part in a voluntary financial wellness survey, roughly 77% reported feeling either “somewhat” or “very” stressed about their financial circumstances.

At the time, Chubb Insurance spent about 2.5% of its medical budget on stress and anxiety-related health issues, indicating that financial wellness programs could end up paying for themselves through reduced healthcare costs.

Since Chubb Insurance began its financial wellness initiatives, it has recorded the following improvements:

• The percentage of Chubb Insurance employees contributing to their 401(k) plans rose from 50% in 2018 to about 83% today, with an annual average income contribution of 8.5%
• Participation in Roth 401(k) options rose by 26%
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) enrollments and increased contributions rose by 18%, with 25% of employees choosing to invest these funds (as opposed to holding them in cash)

Regarding the company’s generous 401(k) matching program, Chubb Insurance executives noted that 17% of employees were still not signing up. To help this group, Chubb Insurance now offers a five-week financial-wellness seminar series taught by a national team of certified financial planners in over 35 Chubb locations around the U.S. Additionally, the company offers one-hour education sessions on topics like debt management, budgeting, and financial advice for women.

The Bottom Line

When collecting feedback on the financial well-being of its workforce, Chubb Insurance noted that the majority of workers felt intense pressure as a direct result of financial stress. At the same time, roughly half of the company’s staff were not engaging in existing 401(k) matching programs, HSAs, and other initiatives offered by Chubb Insurance. Not only did this low engagement contribute to increased healthcare costs for the company, but it also lowered productivity and employee retention.

Consequently, Chubb Insurance focused on improving employee satisfaction and engagement through a digital financial wellness center, email campaigns, increased 401(k) matching benefits, finance seminars, mental health resources, and free consultations with financial professionals. As a result of their efforts, Chubb Insurance has seen substantial boosts to employee engagement with employer-sponsored financial programs, reduced healthcare costs related to stress and increased productivity across the board.

Do you want to leverage fintech to gain a competitive advantage, improve financial wellness, and increase employee engagement and productivity? If so, contact Clair today!

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