Darren from Financial Advice Matters
Name
Darren Smith
Job title
Managing Director
Organisation
What is your organisation currently focussing on in terms of workplace health and wellbeing?
Our team specialises in proactive financial wellness education programs delivered on site in the workplace that integrate and support broader employee wellness programs. The focus is providing interactive and practical tools that build confidence and resilience to deal with the increasing pressures and uncertainties related to managing personal finances.
What aspect of workplace health and wellbeing does your organisation do well in?
Financial wellness education for employees delivered on site starting from the basics of budgeting through to more complex retirement strategies based on needs of the employees within the workplace.
Providing continuous feedback and measurable outcomes.
What’s your biggest challenge working in workplace health and wellbeing?
At an organisational level it is navigating gate keepers within some organisations who view the value or merit of these programs through their own lens and biases of past experiences.
At an individual level I’m turning ‘I should do something into I must do something.’
I have to say though I love the challenge and it feels so good when you connect with professionals who really get it and the results speak for themselves.
How does WayAhead Workplaces add value to your organisations health and wellbeing program?
WayAhead Workplaces has been an excellent forum and really opened up our awareness to the growing need for increased focus on mental wellness and the important role that we can play in the area of financial wellness education. It has been an excellent network to connect with like minded individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds, specialties and industries.
How do you deal with stress?
Three that come immediately to mind:
- Going to gym in the morning gives me a good kick start and clears the head
- Focusing on a hobby or activity that I love doing which is fishing takes me to another place and it gets me into another environment
- Having a coffee chat with a colleague.
What are the key issues and considerations for people in workplace health and wellbeing roles?
Keeping the focus on the emotional outcomes, connections and long term positive behavioural changes as well as the financial outcomes.
Starting small, but deliberately and observing the ripple effect. Securing the budget for structured programs. Continuing to find ways for those who have benefited to share their real-life stories that people can relate to in the language of the beneficiary.
How do you switch off from work?
- The simple act of playing with the two sausage dogs that we own is a quick way to have a bit of fun and a laugh
- Playing with my two grandchildren
- Taking the dogs for a walk with my wife.
What is your best time saving tip?
I have a couple, but they are related:
- Do less – simplify my day so that I focus on the important things
- Get the important stuff done early in the day
- Delegate to others if they can do it better and it is not one of my important things.
What do you think the future of work health and wellness programs look like?
Work health and wellness programs will be more integrated and certainly be more enabled via digital platforms. They will also have to be flexible enough to cater for the ageing and mobile workforces.
When I future gaze I do believe that at the moment programs are very organisation specific and silo driven but I believe we will see more that are delivered across employer groups and benchmark outcomes across larger populations of participants. The gamification of programs will continue to gain traction.
Increasingly the quality and breadth of programs will become an important differentiator for an employer when hiring/recruiting talent.
