If you’re looking for a financial wellness program for your company, you probably have some goals in mind for it — maybe helping your employees with their money, growing participation in a 401(k) plan, or increasing productivity.

Those are all good goals. But though they’re often held up as great ideals, most companies and employees aren’t living up to them.

Why not? Good goals alone don’t change behavior. And it does your company no good to have a financial wellness program if behavior change is not a core part of the teaching.

Cookies (and other habits) distract us from change

We all know what it’s like to be torn between two desires. When you want to lose weight, for example, your goal is often compromised by your cravings. Which side of you will win: the rational side that knows losing weight is good for you, or the emotional side that just wants a cookie?

More often than not, your emotional side wins the battle. Simply knowing that the long-term goal of weight loss is good for us is not enough to overpower the fact that we want that cookie now.

Our efforts to reach our financial goals work the same way. We all have longstanding money habits that are comfortable simply because they are familiar. We fight against any changes to those habits, even when we know those changes will help us in the long run.

To achieve life’s big goals, financial or otherwise, you must find a way to appeal to both the emotional and rational sides of your brain at once. Then they can work together rather than against each other.

Americans are misbehaving with money

Take a look at these personal finance stats and think about how they are probably impacting the lives of your own employees today:

70 percent are living paycheck to paycheck
64 percent wouldn’t be able to cover a $1,000 emergency if it came up today
24 percent of most Americans’ income is going toward consumer debt payments

Surveys show that most Americans already know they should eliminate debt and save more, yet the outrageous borrowing and spending continue. The trouble isn’t a gap in knowledge — it’s a lack of will to change the bad habits that created these problems. After all, success with money is only 20 percent head knowledge. The other 80 percent is behavior.

Engaging heart and mind

There are a few key concepts your financial wellness program must include to bring about lasting behavior change in your company.

Make it personal. Group presentations about retirement plans won’t cut it. Your employees are looking for an individualized solution that will walk with them, step-by-step, through the whole process, taking them from a place of debt and worry to a place of wealth and generosity.
Give employees crystal-clear direction. A truly great financial wellness solution gives people goals to work toward and shows them exactly what it will take to change their money habits. Your employees need a program that will spell out the importance of setting goals like learning to budget, eliminating debt, or building an emergency fund.
Tug at their heartstrings. Even clearly outlined steps can only do so much. The heart drives a lot of human behavior, and your employees won’t begin laying a foundation for a better financial future until they feel the stirrings of hope that they can really change.
Forge their path. Remember, you want to set your employees up to succeed in a way that engages both their emotions and their reason. A turnkey financial wellness program makes the process easier for you and for them. You’re far more likely to see lasting behavior change in your team if your whole company shows that financial wellness is a central part of your culture. Positive peer pressure in the form of shared wins and success stories is another great way to shape a path of success.

It’s time to look a little deeper at what’s preventing the people you care about from making lasting changes to their finances.

When you give them clear direction, motivate their hearts, and create a positive environment for change, real financial wellness will be the natural outcome.

Instant Insights /

How lasting behavior change leads to financial wellness

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