Benefits leaders invest significant time, money, and effort to offer relevant employee benefits that align with budgets and deliver meaningful results. Yet, because the core pillars of employee wellbeing often overlap, employees may need to address multiple issues before they see positive changes. For example, 70% of employees are not financially healthy, but many also struggle with physical or mental health needs, caregiving demands, life events like divorce or loss, domestic violence, or legal problems that contribute to their financial challenges.
While employee benefits packages often include support for these needs, employees are frequently unaware of available resources or too stressed to navigate them. This disconnect prevents employers and employees from realizing the full value of their employee benefits.
Brightside Financial Care bridges this gap by integrating with the many other benefits employers offer, to deliver better outcomes. Here’s how Brightside helps employees find, understand, and navigate their available options.
1. Acts as the front door to benefits
When employees connect with Brightside, they’re paired with a dedicated Brightside Financial Assistant who becomes their “go-to” person. This a real person who works hard to build trust with employees and offer personalized, non-judgmental support to address employees’ financial challenges and surrounding issues, when possible.
Brightside Financial Assistants often:
- Refer employees to Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and other benefits for challenges like caregiving or family conflict.
- Connect employees with employer financial assistance programs, hardship funds, employee credit unions, and retirement solutions.
- Help employees navigate health insurance, prescription drug coverage, health savings accounts (HSAs), and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) to reduce medical costs.
2. Enhances existing wellness programs
Traditional financial wellness tools such as self-serve financial education, financial planning, and retirement solutions are often only relevant for the 30% of financially healthy employees who have money and need help managing and growing it. This leaves a significant portion of employees, particularly frontline workers, unsupported and continuing to struggle with basic financial needs. Brightside helps bridge this gap by providing:
- Personalized support: Employees can access real solutions that help with money emergencies, debt, credit scores, expenses, building emergency savings, and more, so they can find the financial stability to participate in future-focused benefits like 401(k)s.
- Access to affordable cash: Brightside’s network of free community resources, paycheck-linked loan partners, and a free $100 Cash Advance feature help reduce employee reliance on earned wage access or 401(k) withdrawals.
- Bite-sized financial education: Delivered at the right moments, Brightside Financial Assistants use proven behavioral science techniques to make it easy for employees to take small, actionable steps and instill a sense of hope and confidence that they can set and achieve financial goals.
3. Meets employees where they are
Brightside Financial Assistants work to identify the root causes of financial stress and help employees understand all of their options, including helping them navigate other employer benefits, local resources, and Brightside solutions based on their unique situations. Here’s how that process worked for one employee we’ll call Matilda:
Matilda came to Brightside for help exploring ways to reduce her overall monthly expenses and was concerned about whether she could even afford medical insurance. Her Brightside Financial Assistant helped her navigate to a medical insurance premium subsidy benefit that her employer offered. She was approved for a 100% subsidy, which eliminated her out-of-pocket premium costs.
As the pair further explored Matilda’s opportunities to find money and reduce expenses, they considered her student loan repayment options.
When Matilda chose an income-driven repayment plan, her Financial Assistant helped her complete the required application and track its status. She was approved to reduce her student loan payments from $100 a month to $0, freeing up much-needed cash flow.
4. Delivers employer ROI
Employers see measurable results when partnering with Brightside, including:
- Employees discover and use previously overlooked resources: Brightside drove an 80% reduction in employees not contributing to their 401(k) and a 5% reduction in hardship withdrawals at a Fortune 10 employer.
- Reduced costs: By lowering stress and improving financial health, Brightside reduces turnover by 41% on average.
- Improved productivity: Employees who engage with Brightside are better able to focus, resulting in 36+ additional productive hours per employee annually.
Amplify the value of your benefits with Financial Care
Ready to learn how Brightside can complement your benefits strategy? Click here to schedule a demo and explore how Financial Care can transform your workforce.
