Big city, small town: 2 successful public-sector financial wellness programs
How 2 different public employers with different workforces successfully implemented their financial wellness programs.
Over two-thirds of public sector employees would like to participate in a financial wellness program offered through their employer, according to The Center for State and Local Government Excellence (SLGE). Over half believe that employers should prioritize improving their workers’ financial literacy, SLGE found in a survey of over 500 state and local government employees.
Related: Uncertainty and financial stress driving closer scrutiny of employee benefits
To showcase how governments can implement wellness plans in their own departments, SLGE created two case studies comparing programs in two cities with vastly different populations and benefits programs: the Village of Twin Lakes in Wisconsin, and Denver.
2 cities, 2 different workforces
Twin Lakes, Wisconsin: Twin Lakes is a rural community on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois. It has a population of just over 6,200, and covers less than six miles. The village employs fewer than 30 full-time employees and annual expenditures for the general fund are just over $5 billion.
Employees split the cost of a state pension plan with the village, and can contribute to a deferred compensation program if they choose.
Employees’ share of health coverage ranges between $20 and $40 a month with a $200-$400 deductible. Employees also have access to a $500 flexible savings account, which they can make additional contributions to.
Denver, Colorado: The City and County of Denver covers 155 square miles, with nearly 620,000 people living in it. Local government employs over 11,000 full-time workers, and annual expenditures for the general fund are nearly $1.5 billion.
Denver offers a retirement plan for permanent employees that provides a lifetime monthly income payment, as well as a 457 plan, though it doesn’t make employer contributions.
Workers can choose between six health insurance plans, including high-deductible health plans. The city makes an employer contribution to eligible employees’ HSAs if they use Optum for their HSA, capped at $300 per employee, or $900 for families.
How they did it and results
With fewer employees, Twin Lakes was able to implement a wellness program without going to the village board, and using existing resources.
The village administrator organized a mandatory lunch meeting to go over employee benefits, and invited spouses to attend. The village’s retirement plan representatives were on hand to answer complex questions as needed, but the program was presented and run by the village staff using PowerPoint.
“This format helped to frame the presentation as a human resources initiative, not as something requiring technical financial expertise and not as a vendor-led sales pitch,” according to SLGE.
The village was able to increase the number of employees who signed up for the deferred compensation plan, and others increased their contributions, or made more aggressive allocations.
“It was a real awakening to see how few people knew how to make their money work for them,” Jennifer Frederick, village administrator for Twin Lakes, said.
Denver had the benefit of a two-year Bloomberg grant, and two Harvard fellows, to implement its wellness program. The city built on an existing program, which tracked participation rather than outcomes. With a new directive to use data to help agencies make decisions, the city began aggregating data based on four pillars: financial, mental, physical and professional wellness. City agencies can choose which pillar to focus on for their workers.
Related: Workers’ financial health declined despite increasing employer concern
The city rolled out gamification strategies and financial incentives to increase engagement, and created a portal where employees could track their agency’s progress.
The program “enjoys the support of all levels of government,” according to SLGE, and helped meet employee needs throughout the pandemic. SLGE cited the program’s flexibility as a key factor in its success.
READ MORE: