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The corporate world continues to face challenges. One major challenge is associated with employees wanting financial wellness support. Evidence shows that financial stresses negatively impact employees, thus affecting their work productivity and personal life. Employees who desire vetted and trusted support sources often seek guidance from their employer and human resource team; desiring resources for financial literacy, such as education, technology, and access to human financial professionals. Additionally, there is a significant hole in financial wellness employee benefits, with many employer offerings unable or unsure of how best to support the increasing needs of their employees. These employees need individualized holistic resources and advice, but often they don’t know where to turn to get that.
Since several financial wellness companies have failed to provide a holistic solution, the Pathwise Group decided to offer technology and solutions to the problem, by bringing unbiased financial wellness solutions enhanced by technology and financial experts.
Pathwise Group offers a suite of services and support to employees in consultation with HR and their benefit consultants; creating a team approach using each other’s insights to support each employer group and their employees.
Founder & President Jared P. Brown established Pathwise Group in 2019 with the aim to augment participant engagement and financial wellness education in the worksite. The company’s suite of services allows each employer to customize its solution and enhance true employee engagement. Thus, the Pathwise Group works with industry leaders to ensure that each employer works with the best support solutions in the industry.
The Pathwise Group provides its clients with the data required to make informed decisions and ensure they are supported, educated, and have access to the experts they need. Brown says, “we truly believe that we have the best of the best in every category, from a financial planning environment to a benefits consulting environment to data insights to benefit administration integrations to product delivery.” He further continues, “this is a beginning-to-end solution that is best in the market. We are revolutionizing the way employers and employees receive information and provide valuable insights that help with overall decision-making. Our overall goal is to improve financial wellness and help people accomplish the goals they have for their future.”
The Financial Wellness platform involves leveraging technology with a human approach to enhance financial wellness. The software brings financial wellness to employees through a three to five-minute-long financial wellness assessment. In addition, Pathwise Group ensures various educational delivery methods to match the learning styles of several generations.
Included in the experience is employee-related services involving financial planning with an advisor, student loan relief resources, protection resources, tax professionals and solutions, estate planning professionals and resources, financial wellness content library, as well as qualifying event support like new hire, retirement, promotion, divorce, and marriage.
The company can integrate its proprietary financial wellness assessment tool into benefits administration systems allowing it to become a part of the open enrollment experience or if HR prefers off enrollment, both provide an ease of use for employees.
De-identified aggregate data from the assessment of the employees is analyzed by a team of experts and reported to HR and benefit consultants to help support benefit solutions that fit the needs of their employees. Additionally, Pathwise Group uses the powerful data insights to customize individual employee resources and education and can tailor it specifically to each employer.
Pathwise Group is motivated to holistically individualize the worksite. Brown explains, “what I mean by that is almost everything is siloed and not easily available for the employee to make proper decisions. Let’s be honest benefits can be a completely confusing model for an employee. So, we envision a world where the employee will have insights and easy actions tied to simple reporting based on the data. The data will inform the employee with education and provide access to needed solutions; at their fingertips they will be able to make proper decision at the proper time based on life’s ever-changing decisions.”
As a matter of fact, the company has a page on their website named “Pathwise 1% Pledge”. It challenges its employees, company leaders, affiliates, and individuals to give a percentage. This can be a percentage of product, money, or time to serve others. Being a company based in Montana, Pathwise Group values community and is incredibly proud of its state. One thing close to the team’s heart is enhancing access to financial wellness in rural communities. For that, they offer their financial wellness platform to rural business owners, healthcare workers, educators, ranchers, and farmers, free of cost.
Pathwise’s financial wellness assessment engagement rates are five times greater than conventional financial wellness training programs, because the company’s approach is entirely individualized it maintains a personalized focus and feel. The fact that the process involves customizing the employees individual needs and experience is what makes Pathwise different. The platform’s simplicity, along with its unique features, aids in augmenting the engagement rate.
The company’s software may be connected during the employer’s benefits enrollment cycle. This aids in streamlining it as a benefit to the employee and not as a system outside the employee benefit plan. During engagement, the employee can opt for an appointment with an advisor. If they do not choose this, they will obtain smart technology engagement content customized to their circumstances according to the data received. Personalizing such an experience and sharing the right educational content assists in making proper decisions. In addition, it further aids in connecting to the right level of support and obtaining proper resources for improving their financial wellness.
Pathwise continues to work with the employer group year-round by sending content engagements, hosting webinars, and other completely customizable experiences!
Pathwise Group offers customer support to employers. The company has account executives that manage the entire platform implementation process. A calendar is established for marking group communications between a benefits consultant and the employer, this enables the company to integrate directly into the workflow.
When it comes to providing services, initially, the employer and the benefit consultant are the company’s client. Building from that relationship, every employee working under the employer is also treated as a client by Pathwise Group. Brown says, “we customize the software as well as all marketing materials and engagement to personalize it for the employer.” The company also focuses on “customizing for the level of support needed based on the employee’s role. For instance, helping a new hire, a manager or an executive, they ALL receive relevant content and support related to their individual support needs.”
Pathwise Group stands out from the crowd and is entirely different from its competitors. The financial planning the company performs, from estate planning to tax planning, is all centered and supported by a certified and trained financial advisory team that can handle benefit planning alongside individual planning. Bringing such solutions together can help create an entire life plan, involving benefits, old retirement plans, and much more into one financial dashboard, built by the advisory team.
Brown envisions the company transforming the way benefits are perceived and ultimately obtained by an employee. Pathwise Group is focused on scaling its support nationally by bringing a brilliant financial advisory team to support groups from a local perspective in all kinds of markets across the US.
“We expect our technology platforms modernizing consistently to reach every employee. We see consistent upgrades and integration with key partners that can bring resources and support on demand within our platform,” Brown says.
When it comes to Pathwise Group’s long term goals, Brown looks forward to simplifying all individual planning resources and sustaining them through advisory services. He further aims to facilitate the use of data to solve issues among platforms and improve efficiencies. This will help employers in making better decisions.
Pull Quote: “This is a beginning-to-end solution that is best in the market that will truly revolutionize the way employees receive information insights and overall decision-making to improve financial wellness and help people accomplish goals that they have for the future.”
Description of the Company: Pathwise Group works with benefit consultants, HR teams, and companies to offer a robust financial wellness offering with a range of services that increase the current benefit plans and improve the overall package offered to employees.
Company Name: Pathwise Group
Founding Year: 2019
Office Locations: Great Falls, Montana
Official Website of the Company: https://pathwisegroup.com/
Name of the Featured Leader: Jared P. Brown
Designation of the Leader: Founder/President
