Free Webinar Event - Introduction to Workplace Financial Wellness - An academic approach

Tuesday, April 30, 2019, 1:00 pm central time

This upcoming webinar is hosted by the United Way Dallas Metropolitan Area “Financial Wellness @ Work” initiative. SHRM/HRCI recertification credit sponsored by MCHRA (HRCI credits pending). Contact Bill Langley at 817 368-0564 or sponsorship@mchra.org for more information.  

Free webinar provided in collaboration with Washington University at St. Louis and the National Fund for Workforce Solution. 

Please register here.

Introduction to Workplace Financial Wellness – An academic approach.

Workplace research indicates that workers at all income levels who deal with money issues are likely to underperform at work, especially those front line workers. A Careerbuilder study found that almost 8 out of 10 American workers say they live paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. More than 50% of financially stressed employees spend three hours or more during the workweek thinking about or dealing with personal finance issues. As a result, workplace productivity, safety, health and employee turnover can be significantly impacted.

This employer-focused webinar will cover the basics of designing and implementing a workplace financial wellness strategy targeted towards low- and moderate-income workers. 

Workplace financial stability experts Ellen Frank-Miller and Mathieu Despard from the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis will highlight their research and related resources available on workplace financial wellness.

Attendees of this free webinar will learn:

·         How to understand what employees need.

·         The range of financial wellness products and services available.

·         Accessible employer guides published by the Not-for- Profit Prosperity Now and Washington University in St. Louis.

About the Speakers

Ellen Frank-Miller, PhD

Senior Scientist & Adjunct Professor at Washington University in St. Louis

Ellen Frank–Miller is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Social Development and an Adjunct Professor in the MPH program at the Brown School. Ellen is a rigorous idealist, expert social scientist, and project manager with nearly 30 years experience leading large and smaller-scale projects while performing mixed-methods research focused on social welfare policy, innovation, and organizational development in academic, non-profit, and private sectors. She is an experienced consultant and academic instructor with outstanding analytical abilities and the firm belief that “every problem has a solution…with good research”.

Evidence-informed interventions, rigorously evaluated, can bring greater financial well-being to the most vulnerable workers in our economy, enabling them to be better employees and live better lives.

Her primary research interests includes employee financial stability and employer efforts to help workers thrive financially, Lower-wage job design and management practices, structural factors related to the proliferation of lower-wage employment and economic inequality.

Ellen Frank-Miller is credited in 11 academic research publications to date.

·         Employee Financial Wellness Programs: Differences in Reach by Financial Circumstances

·         Employee Financial Wellness Programs: Differences in Reach by Race and Ethnicity

·         Commentary: Workers’ financial challenges pressure employers to act

·         Employee Financial Wellness Programs Project: Comprehensive Report of Findings

·         Employee Financial Wellness Programs: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research

·         Obstacles and Opportunities for Effective Community Involvement in Healthcare Governance in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan)

·         Age, Wage, and Job Placement: Older Women's Experiences Entering the Retail Sector.

·         The effects of poverty and health insurance status on health service utilization among older adults.

·         Survey Findings: HR Outsourcing – Trends & Insights

·         Survey Findings: Design and Administration of Educational Assistance Programs

Mathieu Despard, PhD

Research Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis

Mat Despard’s research focuses on the financial security of low- and moderate-income households, including tax-time savings, workplace financial wellness programs, credit, and financial services, as well as the capacity and performance of non-profit organizations serving these households and communities.

He is currently leading the Workforce Financial Stability Initiative, which seeks to understand how frontline employees’ work conditions affect their financial stability and to identify and test workplace innovations to improve these conditions. Despard is currently studying use of and employee outcomes associated with workplace credit building, financial coaching, and small-dollar installment loans in partnership with nonprofit and fin tech providers. He is also part of the Refund-to-Savings team, examining the effects of behavioral interventions to promote tax-time savings through an online platform and conducting studies on a range of consumer finance topics including student debt, material hardship, financial shocks, liquid assets, use of financial services, subjective financial well-being, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Despard has several years of graduate teaching experience in financial social work, nonprofit management, community practice, and social policy, as well as practice experience with nonprofit organizations serving LMI households. He is also a faculty associate with the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion at the University of Michigan and is a co-chair of the Policy Task Force of the Financial Capability and Asset Building for All Grand Challenges Initiative.