With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic raising economic concerns, the Arthritis Society is taking a responsive approach with its Financial Literacy Month initiatives during the month of November.
“We’re reading the pulse,” says Cheryl McClellan, the organization’s chief operating officer. “We haven’t seen a lot of people stressed directly in our organization, but generally, we understand that there’s a lot that’s uncertain.”
This year, the organization is providing employees with pandemic-themed resources through its employee assistance program as well as its consultant and pension provider, with an emphasis on retirement planning through its group registered retirement savings plan.
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By providing the information through third-party sources, the Arthritis Society is empowering its employees to make good financial decisions without any perceived bias from the organization, says McClellan.
“We’ve provided some sessions about managing the shifts in the economic market and how people saw big changes early on in their investment portfolio when COVID first hit. We wanted to make sure that people were thinking about their retirement vehicles as long-term investments and to not worry, so we did lots of context-setting about the ebb and flow of the markets at the time.”
And that approach to financial education will continue as the pandemic and other factors, like the U.S. presidential election, affect the economy.
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“We’re trying to be responsive to what’s on people’s minds, so there was a ramping up this year of things like the shifting market conditions,” she says. “What we’ve been focused on is making sure that we’re being proactive and anticipating what’s happening in the broader economy and job market with good tools and resources in place.”