PLANSPONSOR - December 2017/January 2018 - 48

PLAN PROFILE
Helping Employees Thrive
T
A plan sponsor fosters healthy financial management habits
he philosophy at Movement Mortgage
is that employees should
thrive. Not just professionally but
in four specific areas: family and relationships;
health and wellness; community
involvement; and personal finance.
Aimee Dodson, director for the company's
Thrive program, says, " If these four areas
are strong, then we're getting a more wellrounded,
engaged and healthy employee. "
The privately held company is headquartered
near Charlotte, North Carolina,
and is the sixth largest mortgage lender
in the country. What began in 2008
with four employees has grown to 4,400
employees, spread over 750 locations
across the country.
In the first quarter of 2016, the
organization realized its employees were
struggling with debt from credit cards
and student loans. It created a campaign
to engage the employees in taking steps
to foster healthy cash management habits,
enabling them to pay off debt and prepare
for retirement. Only 24% were taking
advantage of the full company match.
Dodson says, " The Thrive team realized
that helping employees become financially
secure would help them be more
productive at work, but also save marriages
and reduce stress-related illnesses. We
want to provide resources to help them
'thrive' in all areas of their lives-thus
the name of our team was born. " She
continues, " We identified that we wanted
to go beyond traditional financial education
focused on 401(k) investments, contributions
and features. "
With support from the firm's retirement
plan adviser, Todd Timmerman of
Retirement Plan Analytics in Charlotte,
SNAPSHOT
PLAN SPONSOR:
Movement Mortgage, LLC,
Charlotte, North Carolina
the team selected Financial Finesse, a
third-party financial wellness firm, and,
in January 2016, Movement Mortgage
introduced the #Loseamillion campaign.
" Financial Finesse tailors to each individual,
providing tangible resources
without selling our employees anything
at the end, " Dodson says. " We also wanted
employees to know we weren't in the weeds
of their finances. So outsourcing would
create a sense of confidentiality for them. "
Movement Mortgage kicked off the
program with a companywide blackout
one morning so employees could take a
45-question financial wellness assessment.
The results generated a financial
game plan, including ways for each
employee to address their top three vulnerabilities.
The #Loseamillion strategy also
included Dave Ramsey's " Small Steps "
videos on finances, a variety of workshops
and a personal finance book as a surprise
gift to each employee, along with an invitation
to embark on a journey to eradicate,
or at least diminish, consumer debt.
To urge participation, the company
entered anyone who took the assessment
in a drawing in which 10 employees would
win $1,000, paid to the creditor of their
choice. Engagement was high: More than
80% took the assessment, 60% watched at
least half of the videos, and 25% completed
all actions. Dodson notes, " Those 25% paid
off $2.8 million in credit card debt and
saved $1.4 million of emergency money. "
The firm also employed " guerilla
marketing " techniques, she says. " We
launch campaigns with a multimedia
assault using social media and video, and
we try to put a tangible in people's hands.
We give talking points to our team leaders
KEY PLAYER:
Aimee Dodson,
Thrive director
PARTICIPATION
RATE:
97%
Aimee Dodson, Thrive director,
Movement Mortgage
so we're all echoing the same things.
Employees are getting the message from
all angles, so it's hard to ignore it. "
Their next campaign, #Saveabillion,
began last January and ran for 65 days.
Over that time, workers were challenged
with increasing their retirement plan
savings rate. When the campaign ended,
62% of employees were saving at least 6%
of earnings. " Before the campaign, we had
$50 million in plan assets, and 11 months
later, we are at $83 million-only 15% of
that growth is tied to earnings, the rest to
contribution increases, " she observes.
Next up is a campaign about reducing
consumerism, " so people can do a better
job of saving and donating, " she explains.
-Judy Faust Hartnett
AVERAGE
DEFERRAL RATE:
4.6%
NUMBER OF
PARTICIPANTS:
4,268
TOTAL
ASSETS:
$83 million
48 PLANSPONSOR.com December 2017-January 2018
Art by Chris Buzelli
http://www.PLANSPONSOR.com
PLANSPONSOR - December 2017/January 2018

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