Friends Provident financial education and support service helps employees understand how to manage their money effectively 
(23/11/2009)
Friends Provident has launched a new financial education and support service aimed at helping employees understand how to manage their money effectively. The new FRIENDS my money and me TM service - available through the work place - will complement the existing educational tools offered by Friends Provident and provide a series of new independent and impartial modules designed specifically to increase financial awareness for the UK workforce.
At the core of this new service is a qualified, specialist team of 15 consultants who will facilitate generic financial education workshops in a sales free environment for employees. These include workshops focusing on retirement planning, money management, defined benefit/contribution demystification, and employee benefits. Employees can also choose to access the workshops online at their leisure.
Employers can tailor the service to match the needs of their workforce and select from a range of learning tools to suit their employees diverse learning styles. In line with evolving learning styles and based on the fundamentals of behavioural science, the presentation material is being radically overhauled.
Neil Hawkins, national employee communications manager at Friends Provident:
“Our research shows people are not always rational in their decision making when it comes to money matters. Our new materials are designed to counteract negative behaviours such as inertia, over confidence and herd mentality, and highlight the importance of informed individual decision making. We are confident our new service will provide a much needed helping hand for employees throughout the UK.”
Hawkins continues: “As more and more employers start to realise their most valuable assets are their people, we need to recognise the importance of protecting the things that matter most to them. By helping employees manage their finances more effectively, employers can do just this.”
Helen Dickinson, Head of People at healthcare provider, Simplyhealth added: “With over 1150 employees, we are continually looking for new rewards and benefits that will complement each of our employees’ life stages, and provide timely and relevant support. This is why with the onset of the recession we have focused more heavily on financial wellbeing.
“We have conducted a number of activities including providing advice on how to get the most from workplace benefits, and running sessions with local citizens advice bureaus. We also ran a retirement planning workshop at our office in Andover, Hampshire, facilitated by Friends Provident. The feedback from this session has been very positive, with all employees saying they benefited from the day, in different ways. Some employees felt reassured that they were on the right path with their finances. Others found the practical advice very useful and felt more confident about taking the next steps in their retirement planning, with one in particular having now signed up to our pension scheme!”
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