As you look for the right solution to your company’s financial wellness needs, keep in mind this old saying: “Consider the source.”

Not every financial wellness program is built with the customer’s actual needs in mind. And not every wellness vendor is necessarily trying to address the real causes of financial stress for your employees. In fact, many vendors only offer a financial wellness product in hopes of selling your team additional products. And that raises questions about motives and trust!

What you need is a guide on the do’s and don’ts in your search for the right financial wellness vendor. We’ll start with what you don’t want in a wellness vendor.

Don’t Choose a Vendor That’s Using Financial Wellness as a Bait and Switch

For some vendors, financial wellness is only a small part of what they do. That’s not wrong in itself, but some combinations should be red flags for you. For example, many people have been shocked recently to learn that their Facebook profiles were being used to gather data that was later sold to third parties. But if you think about it, how else would Facebook operate if there weren’t some kind of revenue model built in to the platform? There had to be a moneymaker somewhere.

The same is true with some financial wellness vendors who might come along offering your company a free or dirt-cheap program. In the HR world, think how many times we’ve witnessed an employee benefit program get bought out by a larger company that already offers customers a range of financial products. Why the sudden interest in becoming financial wellness vendors?

Often it’s a bank that notices a popular financial wellness product and wants to get their own product line out in front of the others. They say they’re looking to help your company with a great financial wellness benefit, but all the while they’re ready to solicit your employees with credit cards, loan offers, insurance products or debt consolidation. A classic bait and switch!

If a bank decides to offer a financial wellness program, it’s pretty likely they have more in mind than just helping educate people about personal finance. Be sure to find out if their materials include solicitations to the user. The question you should ask is: Why are they offering financial wellness? If the answer is to upsell your workers, move right along!

Don’t Go With a Financial Wellness Rookie

Many of the financial wellness programs to hit the market over the last few years have just as abruptly vanished! They make a big splash only to go under quickly—and often it’s because they jumped into the industry without having any real or practical understanding of what truly works. Others are ineffective because they’ve got nothing to offer but a shiny new tool or a little bit of content they try to palm off as financial wellness. But it isn’t nearly enough to lead anyone to real behavior change!

That’s a disappearing act you don’t need from a financial wellness vendor! It not only reflects an inadequate product, it also inconveniences your business when you’re faced once again with researching new programs, communicating the change to your employees, and trying to get them reengaged once you find a replacement.

If all these risks that come with choosing a financial wellness program are making you hesitate in your own search, here’s some good news: There are great programs out there, and we can tell you how to find them. It’s time to talk about what you do want in a wellness vendor.

Do Choose a Wellness Vendor Who Does Financial Wellness Exclusively

We’ve already seen the risks involved in choosing a vendor that treats financial wellness as one add-on among many other products. But the converse is also true—there are big advantages to choosing a vendor that’s in business solely to provide financial wellness that actually works!

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At SmartDollar, financial wellness is all we do! We aren’t tied to any other companies, and there are never any solicitations to your employees in our product or materials. But here’s what you will find:

• An emphasis on employee behavior change, the one and only key to true financial wellness.

• A proven plan for your employees that actually gives them action steps for financial success and inspires motivation to complete them.

• Life-changing content delivered in a digital format that meets employees both whenever and wherever they’re available to watch and listen.

• A range of easy-to-use tools that are available on any device and make it easy for your workers to track their progress with action steps.

Do Pick a Program With an Established Track Record

Once again, SmartDollar fits the bill. Unlike any other financial wellness solution on the market, we’ve been in the business for 25 years. Many competitors have come and gone, but we’ve stayed the course. Along the way, we’ve helped millions of people change the way they handle money.

What keeps us going and growing is our commitment to helping as many people as possible truly change their financial behavior. We can help your employees get beyond the symptoms of financial stress so they can address the underlying problems—overspending and borrowing to make ends meet. As a result of our work with thousands  of companies, we’ve seen some impressive results for their employees after one year in the program:

• An average of $9,405 in debt paid off.

• An average of $6,127 saved.

• A total average financial turnaround of $15,532.

Think what an impact that kind of turnaround could have on your employees’ sense of wellbeing, their family life and their productivity in your workplace! It’s sure to help your business’ morale and retention, while helping to reduce absenteeism. This is the kind of program you can sign up for with confidence, knowing it’s going to help lead to healthier and happier employees!

Want to learn more about bringing SmartDollar and real financial change to your team? Go to SmartDollar.com and set up your demo today!