In 2019, MoneySuperMarket Group – the FTSE 250 company which runs leading UK price comparison sites as well as MoneySavingExpert.com (the UK’s biggest consumer website) – was on the search for a new financial wellbeing solution.
Building Financial Resilience
“From a wellbeing perspective we want to help our employees be resilient in all aspects of their lives,” says Tracey Quiggin, Head of Reward at MoneySuperMarket Group. “Financial resilience is an integral part of that – because we believe it has a direct correlation to mental health and overall wellbeing.”
In addition to building resilience, they were looking for a holistic solution that would engage people and help them plan for all their goals – short-term (saving for holidays) and long-term (like retirement). Eventually the team discovered Octopus Money and have since introduced money coaching for its 750 employees, to proactively support their financial wellbeing. “What’s great about Octopus,” Tracey says, “is that it helps make personal finance simple and jargon-free, meaning it’s as easy as possible for our employees to engage – which is something we really wanted.”
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How Money Coaching Helped
All MoneySuperMarket Group employees now get a free 30-45 minute session with a money coach every year. Plus, the opportunity to take advantage of a full year of 1-to-1 coaching service and powerful planning technology. Employees receive “a discount” on the retail price of the full service because MoneySuperMarket Group allows them to pay via salary sacrifice. As coaches work with employees, they build a personal money plan that visualises how their money is forecast to grow and whether staff are on track with their financial goals. Then, they help create an action plan to optimise their spending, savings, investments, pensions, mortgages and life insurance.
Tracey says, “Our brand goes a long way towards helping people make the most of their money, so we wanted to reflect that and focus our energy in helping our colleagues to do the right things too. Especially in more complex areas such as pensions, protection and investments. Giving our teams access to a financial coach – a real, human expert – really helps them take action to improve their financial health.”
The opportunity for employees to meet their coach and build rapport, before signing up to the full service was also appealing to the team. Tracey has heard feedback from employees that “offering a free session and a ‘try before you buy’ approach is a real plus.”
“Giving our teams access to a financial coach – a real, human expert – really helps them take action to improve their financial health.”
Impact You Can Measure
So what were the results? The whole team at MoneySuperMarket Group quickly saw the impact. At launch alone, 35% of employees met with their coach. And employees rated their experience with Octopus Money 4.8 stars out of 5 on average. One employee says, “I started my journey this year with my financial coach. It’s early days but I can already see how I can make small changes that will make a big impact! I particularly like the digital planning tool as it’s now so much easier to track my income and potential investments.”
The real measure of a financial wellbeing programme is the tangible impact it has on employees’ financial situation. At MoneySuperMarket Group, household wealth improved by £3,000 within the first 12 months on average – and is projected to improve by £50,000 over 10 years. Now, Tracey and the team can rest assured they’re building measurable financial resilience across their workforce.
“We want all our benefits and wellbeing efforts to reflect our overall purpose and brand, which is ‘helping households save money’. Octopus Money encapsulates that ethos and allows us to make sure our employees are able to save money in ways that are most relevant to them.”
