Dr. Despard published a blog titled “Building an effective employee financial wellness program [5 Key Insights]” on the Washington University in St. Louis Social Policy Institute website.
This blog post distills over 4 years of research on employee financial wellness programs, which are benefits offered to help workers better manage their finances, access affordable credit, save, receive pay advances, and meet other financial needs.
While Dr. Despard sees certain advantages of these programs as a way to promote financial inclusion in the U.S. (e.g., offering frontline workers an alternative to high-cost and predatory payday loans), he cautions “EFWPs are poor substitutes for low wages and bad benefits”.