Causeway Technologies develops software and services for the construction industry, employing around 220 people across four different office locations in the UK and overseas.
Employee wellbeing is a key priority for the organisation, and it views employees’ financial health as one of the six key areas of its wellbeing strategy.
Fiona Buchanan, executive vice president for HR at Causeway, says: “It’s our responsibility to help employees with financial education. We believe this support should go beyond the pensions and benefits we provide, helping them to make informed decisions about their finances more generally.”
The organisation has used several different methods to deliver financial education, including group workshops and one-to-one sessions with financial advisers, but it saw the need to extend the service further, and implemented an online advice service that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to support employees.
“A significant number of our employees are out and about, so may miss some of these sessions, or the time out impacts on service delivery to our customers,” explains Buchanan. “We also found that some weren’t comfortable discussing their finances in front of their colleagues. Others left the finances to their spouses or preferred to talk about money as a couple.
“Being able to provide financial advice online and enable employees to explore different options and scenarios to understand the long-term impact of their decisions through Wealth Wizards meant we could reach everyone.”
As well as enabling employees to access advice whenever they wanted, Causeway’s online service also gives staff a safe environment in which to share personal details about their finances. “The service understands the needs of each employee and tailors the information and advice to them,” says Buchanan. “There’s absolutely no point talking about increasing pension contributions if an employee’s dealing with debt.”
Perhaps because Causeway is a technology company, the AI built into the service also appealed.
“We use data to inform our strategy and decisions and reinforce a message wherever we can,” Buchanan explains. “As an example, we provide on-site health checks as part of our wellbeing programme, using the anonymous data it generates to inform what we do over the coming year.
“If it can help to make something more relevant and engaging, it’s a no-brainer for the business and our employees.”