Business challenge
With many members living paycheck to paycheck and often facing short- term financial emergencies, including healthcare and janitorial workers, the union was looking for a better way to support employees’ financial well-being. Director of Finance for the Council, Steve Robinson- Burmester is passionate about providing avenues for long-term financial security that help members avoid payday loans, credit card debt, and second jobs. “SecureSave is a low-cost, really novel benefit... I noticed that a lot of people were borrowing money against their 401K, and SecureSave offered an excellent auxiliary plan.”
Why SecureSave?
The Council selected SecureSave’s Emergency Savings program primarily because of the proven participation rate. Where most savings plans achieve around a 5% adoption rate, SecureSave achieved an average of 60% of employee participation upon rollout—which was simple to deploy and manage. “SecureSave handles the entire sign-up process for employees. It was so easy, employees could join in three clicks. Employees felt secure in having immediate access to their funds for unexpected emergencies. As one user shared about the SecureSave ESA experience, ‘I go to the app, I pull it up, it’s like bulletproof.’”
“We set it up in payroll and it’s been pretty much seamless... When employees open the app, it scrolls the numbers up from zero to their total funds saved like on a jackpot machine. It’s the best psychological tool to encourage savings I’ve ever seen.”
Steve Robinson-Burmester, Director of Finance at SEIU California State Council
Watch Steve's testimonial video [2:48]
