While Allstate Insurance Co. of Canada provides several financial education and information sessions to employees throughout the year, it’s focusing on the importance of financial literacy this November to align its offerings with Canada’s Financial Literacy Month.
“Financial wellness is actually a key component of our healthy workplace strategy at Allstate,” says Adrianne Sullivan-Campeau, the organization’s vice-president of human resources.
Read: Just one-fifth of employers have formal strategy around employee financial wellness
Last year, Allstate’s human resources team developed and unveiled a refreshed strategy that focused on how to sustain a healthy workplace and build a holistic culture of engagement, wellness and inclusion that covers financial, physical, nutritional and mental well-being.
For its focus on financial literacy this month, the company is in the midst of a number of activities. For example, it’s promoting its resource library of free online tools and information for employees and it has opened its annual benefits enrolment period. “That enables employees to update their benefits selections, so all month we’re encouraging employees to inform themselves and talk to our benefits experts for advice, so that they can enrol in coverages that will meet their anticipated needs,” says Sullivan-Campeau.
In addition, Allstate’s in-house retirement consultant is offering free one-on-one, 30-minute retirement sessions to employees across the country. It’s also partnering with its registered retirement savings plan provider, Sun Life Financial, to offer employees a seminar called Building your Wealth. The seminar will cover a variety of topics, including defining priorities and identifying investment options; how to benefit from tax-deferred investments; and managing risk and protecting investments. It will take place in person and via webinar so all employees can participate.
Read: 80% of Canadians want employer-provided financial education: survey
Since the financial literacy activities are currently underway, it’s difficult to provide any specifics about employee participation and feedback so far, says Sullivan-Campeau. However, the organization does regularly ask for employees’ opinions and feedback.
“We absolutely love to tie into Financial Literacy Month, so we have to look at what is appropriate to do and each year we would refer back. But if that is something of interest to employees, we would absolutely keep that,” says Sullivan-Campeau.