When Amazon’s team asked employees about their perceived value of a range of different potential benefits, it learned that its frontline employees wanted financial benefits that could help with basic financial needs such as groceries, medications, and electrical bills. “Those financial benefits just kept coming to the top of our employee want list,” said Justin Roberts, Amazon’s Sr. Manager, Financial Benefits. “We’re moving into a more productive phase of financial health and financial support for our employees. That all starts with talking to your employee base.”
Roberts explained that when his team started to look for a frontline financial health solution, the first priority was to find one that could “stop the bleeding,” offer help for financial emergencies, and then help employees take steps to improve their financial situation.
“We saw that we had employees that were struggling to get to work due to transportation issues or had some very dynamic life scenarios that affected their ability to come to work and work stress-free,” said Roberts. “We’re starting at the very basic foundational piece of financial health. That’s helping people who are going through financial crisis in that moment – and we’re building from there.”
Watch the short video below from the EBRI-Milken Institute 2024 Retirement Symposium to hear Roberts describe why Amazon decided to offer frontline employees Brightside Financial Care as a benefit, and how they’ve responded. You can also learn more about Amazon’s frontline financial health strategy in our on-demand webinar.
