"Let's Talk about Money" - Increased Financial Confidence for Johnson&Johnson Employees
#employeeresourcegroups
#financialeducation
40% of employees rate money as a top stress factor, and statistically, 13 hours a month are lost to each employee worrying about finances at work (source: SmartPurse.me). In addition, a large number of women are faced with lower pensions than men (due to part-time work, care work, etc.), just to name some reasons to come up with a financial education program for Johnson&Johnson employees.
An engaging set of six onsite workshops with Olga Miler from SmartPurse were organized by J&J’s Women Network (ERG) “Women’s Leadership & Inclusion”, covering the following topics:
The workshops were run to address J&J employees’ financial worries, offer them concrete advice, and help them feel more confident about their financial future.
We had a great outcome with 120 participants in all workshops. Participants loved it, with a rating of 10/10. In each workshop, employees asked a wide variety of questions and had very engaging discussions. Afterwards, they felt more confident discussing budgets at home, negotiating packages with their employers, and investing.
Due to its huge success, the financial education series will be continued in 2024, throughout Switzerland. Campuses in Belgium have also taken up this initiative.
This Best Practice was first published in the Gender Intelligence Report 2024.
A large number of women are less interested and thus unaware of the consequences of their decisions on their financials, e.g., when they work part-time, don’t invest their money, don’t negotiate their compensation, etc. Consequently, women often have fewer financial possibilities, and it might harm the power balance between couples. 40% of employees rate money as a top stress factor, and statistically, 13 hours a month are lost to each employee worrying about finances at work (source: smartpurse.me).
Our goal was to boost our employees’ self-confidence and financial awareness by addressing these topics with a financial education series. As a result, our employees will be enabled to make more educated decisions about what they do with their money (budgeting, investing, money mindset, money conversations).
Together with SmartPurse, a series of five sessions was run, which targeted each aspect of money, from budgeting, money conversations, family finances, and investing basics to advanced investing aspects with very concrete tools. A lively discussion started in every workshop, and participants came out with concrete next steps and knowledge of how to do a budget, how to start investing, etc.
“I am speaking with my children differently about money now.”
120 employees participated at the Johnson&Johnson premises in Zug; as per our survey, 50% of respondents stated that they started/reshaped their personal budgets, as well as investing, and 20% feel more confident to have difficult money conversations, both at home and at the workplace. 80% of employees with kids stated that they have a concrete plan for addressing money topics with their kids.
“I started investing using robo advisor.”
Based on this best practice, the financial education academy was expanded from Zug to all campuses in Switzerland. A financial education academy was started with local providers in Belgium and Germany.
For more information about this Best Practice, reach out to the authors:
Olivia Capatina
EMEA Vision SC Lead
ocapatin@its.jnj.com
Juliane Schmid
KA Manager – Vision Swiss
jschmid@its.jnj.com
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