Financial Wellness Programs are not Broken – Low Engagement Numbers are Not a Sign of Failure (Part Two)

In my first article I shared why I feel that financial wellness programs, in fact most wellness programs, are not broken and introduced the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM) outlined in the 1980’s by psychologists Dr. Prochaska, Dr. DiClemente, Dr. Norcross, and their team of researchers. (Prochaska PH.D, Norcross PH.D, & DiClemente PH.D, 1994)

Before we discuss strategies to encourage employee engagement in wellness programs, let’s first dive a little deeper into each stage of change. This will help you see the full picture of why I feel our wellness strategies must be evergreen and have a multi-dimensional approach.

As a quick recap, these researchers discovered that we humans typically go through six stages when we decide to make a change to any one habit: Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance, then Termination. Sometimes we will work in sequential order through this process. But most of the time we tend to bounce, or cycle through, these stages as we work to make improvements in our lives.

With that said, let’s dive in…

Stage One – Precontemplation

There is a lot going on in Precontemplation and many of us stay here for various reasons when it comes to taking action on some change we would like to see in our lives. Drs J.O. and J.M Prochaska define those in Precontemplation stage as not intending to take action in the next six months. They stress that wanting to and intending to take action are two very different things and that we may want to change something, but we have no intention of doing so. (Prochaska & Prochaska, 2016)

Being in this stage for any behavior change doesn’t necessarily mean the person isn’t interested in changing, it just might mean they are not sure how to change their behavior, or what steps they should take. Other emotions they could be feeling is a sense of failure or being worried or unsure of what to do make a change. When it comes to money decisions this is very common.

They might also feel embarrassed by their situation or that they feel they should know better. I get this a lot in one-on-ones with people. It is not uncommon to hear someone say, “I feel I should know this, but I don’t” or “I wish I had known this earlier” or “I know I shouldn’t have done XYZ, but I didn’t know where else to turn.” Money is a very emotional thing and leaves imprints on all of us from a very young age.

They also discovered that sometimes people in this stage feel coerced to take action on something or may feel resistant to doing something that they know is positive, but they might feel it is negative because they are being pushed into it. When we first rolled out auto-enrollment there was a lot of angst with this very emotion, not just at the employee level but with management as well. No one wanted to “tell” employees what to do, especially with their money. And many employees didn’t want to be “told” what to do either. Even if it was a positive for them.

There are many things that can explain why people sit in this stage for a very long time, with many never advancing out of this stage. But one of the biggest indicators of readiness to take action is whether or not the pros of staying where they are start to outweigh the cons of taking action. Until this pendulum shifts to the pros and stays there, most will find themselves in this stage, or the next one, for a very long time.

Stage Two – Contemplation

Once someone decides that they would like to work on something, ideally in the next six months, they move into the Contemplation stage. Here they can see the pros of taking action and are considering making a change, but the cons of staying put are still very enticing. There is a lot of vacillating back and forth here.

Questions and doubts are abundant in this stage which leads to delaying action, sometimes indefinitely. Dr. Prochaska and team have deemed people in this mode “Chronic Contemplators.” They talk a lot about making a change to their lifestyle or habits, but they rarely start the process to make the changes they talk about.

Typical questions and thoughts in this stage sound like: Do I really want to change this habit? Is it worth the effort to do so? I’ve tried this before, nothing happened, or I didn’t stick with it, or the results didn’t stay (we see this a lot with diet and exercise programs as well as the debt yo-yo). They also may say “I don’t have the time,” “I don’t think it will work,” “my friends/family won’t understand or support me,” and so many more.

When it comes to changing their financial situation, you might have people come to your education meetings, chat with you a bit about something they want to change that your webinar hit on, yet you never see them again. You feel they were engaged (and they were) they are just not ready to implement or act on what you shared with them. At least, not yet.

In this stage people are gathering information, working to understand if they want to change this thing they have identified, and looking for a way to do so that fits into their life. One of the biggest issues stopping them from preparing to implement is confidence in their ability to do it which leads to procrastination, hence chronic contemplation.

Stage Three – Preparation

In the Preparation stage, people have identified what they want to change and are now motivated or inspired to start changing or improving their lives in the next month. They are more committed to taking the steps they need to and are willing to do them. Yet they are still collecting information so they can formulate, support, and execute on their plan.

Which means you can start collecting more valuable ROI stats because people are actively exploring programs, asking questions, clicking on articles in newsletters, and meeting one-on-one with you. In Contemplation, these interactions are more passive in nature due to the fact people are looking to learn more but are not ready to take any action on what they’ve learned. In this stage, the action they are taking is in gathering tools to help them formulate their plan on how to integrate this change into their lives. They are not ready to act, yet, but they are getting much, much closer.

This stage is probably the most important one out of the six stages because it will either help or break their momentum as they move toward changing or improving their lives. Without proper planning and preparation to make a change in your life you are more likely to revert back to the Contemplation or Precontemplation stages.

We have all seen this and experienced this at some point in our lives. The diet plan that we didn’t stay on, the exercise routine that we didn’t stick with, the bad health habit we just can’t seem to break away from, the savings account that grows then shrinks constantly, and the credit card debt that somehow seems to pile up again and again. These are just a few that we see or experience. Without a solid plan to implement and sustain the change we want to make it is really hard to make the change permanent in our lives.

Skip this stage or don’t give it the attention it deserves; it will be much more difficult to take the action that will lead to lifelong habits.

Stage Four – Action

People in the Action stage have been working on their chosen area of change for at least six months. This stage is highlighted with the excitement of setting out on a new path along with all the temptations that could lead someone to relapse to earlier stages. Therefore, it is one of the most challenging and the most rewarding stages as people navigate new behaviors and try new things.

This is also the stage where you can collect a very robust ROI on your wellness programs because people are actually using them and is the stage where we typically think that most of our wellness programs begin. At least from an ROI perspective. But if you have been following along, you are hopefully beginning to see that wellness programs start engaging with people way before we can collect any data.

The best way to support those people at this stage in your financial wellness programs is to encourage and guide them as they continue to work on the action steps they have identified so they do not lose their momentum and relapse to earlier stages.

Stage Five – Maintenance??????

In Maintenance, people are consolidating gains and continuing to strengthen their resolve to keep with the new habits they have created. One might think that all is a cake walk at this stage, but it’s truly not. Old habits can be really hard to break. Keeping with a new positive habit truly becomes a lifestyle choice with all the old behaviors constantly tugging at you. The pull to relapse back to what was once comfortable can be very enticing. Prochaska and his team state that one can be in maintenance from a year to a lifetime just getting things to stick and become ingrained as a natural part of our lives.

With this in mind, there are positives about this stage. As people integrate new habits into their lives, they start to move on to other changes that they wanted to make that supports or encourages them to keep with this new lifestyle they are living. From a health perspective, it could mean the new exercise regime is encouraging them to eat better. Eating better helps them feel better which helps them take on other things in their lives.

Financially, paying off debt leads to more savings and less stress about everyday bills and obligations. Leading people to explore other areas of their financial lives that they might have thought were not achievable before, such as home ownership or more investment opportunities.

The key to maintenance is to not take your foot off the gas and remember why you wanted to adopt this new lifestyle change in the first place. Maybe lighten up a bit and engage cruise control but keep your eyes on the road and continue forward knowing there will be some potholes. But if you planned well in the Preparation stage you will have the tools to manage through these or, better yet, avoid them altogether. Unfortunately, when people lapse out of Maintenance mode, they tend to cycle all the way back to Precontemplation or Contemplation. Which can be emotionally taxing on anyone and could lead to other health and financial issues.

Our role as professionals is to understand this and support people through this cycling. Knowing that they may need to rinse and repeat a few times before things become permanently integrated into their lifestyle. When it comes to wellness plans, it means that you may see people attending the same sessions time and time again. That’s a good thing. They might just be looking for that next little nugget that they missed the first time around that will help them in their planning process, so they are more successful in achieving their well-being goals.

Stage Six – Termination

In the final stage, Termination, whatever change you wanted to make has become a lifestyle choice for you that is easy to maintain with no temptation to revert back to any old behaviors. It is marked by self-efficacy and confidence in your ability to continue forward with ease.

It is a bit of a controversial stage since it can be argued that we will always be working on maintaining our positive lifestyles and that relapsing back will always be a temptation. However, in the case of addictive behaviors, such as smoking or drinking, it can be argued that if someone has no desire to engage again no matter what situation they find themselves in, that they have successfully cemented in the change they desired to make. Once this new habit is a permanent fixture in their life, it is more likely they will be willing and able to take on another lifestyle change that will further improve their lives.

In your wellness programs, you might see people moving on to another program in your offering. It doesn’t necessary mean that the program they used is no longer one to offer to everyone. It just means for them they no longer need it.

Final Thoughts

Like many things in life, people will cycle through the various wellness programs you offer and will even cycle through the different offerings within a specific wellness program. We all have seasons in our lives where our focus turns to the most pressing thing for us at the moment. Given we will now have four generations in the work place your wellness programs are going to need to be very diverse with a multi-dimensional approach and setting it and forgetting it is not a wise option. Yearly reviews and evaluation will help your program stay fresh and connected with those that are ready and willing to take action in their lives.

Curious about how to put all this together for your wellness programs? Stay tuned! In the next, and final, installment of this series, I will bring this all together and give you ideas on how to structure your wellness programs so that they are connecting with people at various seasons in their life as well as in their specific stage of change.

References:

Prochaska PH.D, J. O., Norcross PH.D, J. C., & DiClemente PH.D, C. C. (1994). Changing for Good: The Revolutionary Program That Explains the Six Stages of Change and Teaches You How to Free Yourself from Bad Habits. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.

Prochaska PH.D, J. O. & Prochaska Ph.D. (2016). Changing to Thrive: Using the Stages of Change to Overcome the Top Threats to Your Health and Happiness. Center City, Minnesota: Hazeldon Publishing.