Why Financial Inclusion Belongs on Your D&I Agenda

If 2020 has made anything clear, it’s how close to the financial edge many working Americans have actually been living. Amplified by national civil unrest and social injustice, the challenges facing people leaders are unprecedented. HR roles are evolving from specialists into holistic social scientists with broader strategic wellbeing and inclusion responsibilities. What does it mean to lean into this evolved role, and how should you go about it?

These tectonic social and economic shifts have forced a shift from thought leadership to action leadership. This collaborative session will share the actions taken by some companies to address head-on the emerging position that financial inclusion is a national emergency and can only be addressed at scale through the workplace. We will explore how an employer’s role in promoting financial wellbeing has become both more urgent and more complex in a time of mass unemployment and uncertainty.

Financial inclusion cannot be achieved by education and coaching alone. It will take courage and conscience to remove the lingering taboo of talking about money in the workplace and of offering money management, credit, and debt tools as voluntary employee benefits. Now is the time for action leadership. There is no social justice without economic justice, and those companies who recognize and embrace the challenges of financial inclusion will stabilize unrest, uplift vulnerable employees, and create sustainable inclusion.