EXCLUSIVE: Electricity supply organisation UK Power Networks to launch an online financial education programme for its 5,700 UK-based employees.
The new programme, provided by Nudge, will be introduced to staff in August 2017 as part of the organisation’s wider employee wellbeing strategy. The programme will involve personalised emails or text messages being sent to employees, with the information provided tailored to reflect an employee’s interests, lifestyle choices, age demographic, salary, and benefits choices. The personalised messages will also inform staff about legislative changes that could impact them.
Employees will have access to an online platform as part of the new programme. This will provide them with access to over 800 articles on various personal finance topics, as well as allow employees to configure their notifications, add additional information about themselves, such as their partner’s income or details about adult dependants, and set their financial goals.
The financial education programme will also work to support employees' understanding and take up of the benefits that UK Power Networks provides, such as its employee assistance programme (EAP), rental deposit scheme, and workplace loans.
The new programme is being implemented in response to feedback; data from the organisation's EAP provider identified financial wellbeing as a key area around which employees were seeking support.
The financial education programme will initially be communicated to employees via an all-staff email from the HR director, as well as a home mailing campaign, and a screensaver takeover. Further communications will be delivered later in the year to correspond with the Autumn Budget.
The organisation's overall wellbeing strategy features initiatives around mental, physical, and financial health. This includes programmes such as Your Energy, which is run in liaison with Olympic athletes and is designed to help employees build their physical and mental resilience.
Steve Remnant, head of reward and HR services at UK Power Networks, said: “Ensuring UK Power Networks is a great place to work is critical to us and we’re proud to be the only electricity distributor to feature in the Sunday Times Top 25 Best Big Companies to Work For list and Utility of the Year. Nearly 40% of our people have worked for us for 15 years or more, and it’s important that we continue to innovate our employee benefits strategy to stay at the forefront of the market in how we support our people to improve their wellbeing.
“We have a diverse employee base who often work away from our main offices, which can make the communication of benefits a challenge. Feedback highlighted that our people would like more help when it came to managing their personal finances to help them improve their financial wellness. Having introduced workplace loans we wanted to expand on this, recognising the diversity of our employees’ interests and needs.”
