Calling on Wisconsin Employers To Join Automatic Saving Movement

By Rose Oswald Poels

A new employee-focused automatic savings initiative called the Wisconsin Saves Automatic Saving Initiative has launched in Wisconsin and is looking for employers to participate.

This effort is part of a national pilot project designed to encourage millions of Wisconsinites to establish emergency savings accounts through the automated saving strategy of split deposit. The pilot is focused on encouraging small- and medium-sized employers to motivate their employees, particularly those in the lower-to-middle income wages, to save automatically, especially for emergencies.

Employers can sign up for the program and get more details at autosave.wisconsinsaves.org. To date, more than 60 employers in the state have made the commitment to educate their employees about split deposit and encourage the use of the strategy.

On behalf of WBA, I have teamed up with Wisconsin State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions Cabinet Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld, President of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation Wendy Baumann, and America Saves to lead this initiative.

“Wisconsinites fear unexpected expenses because they lack savings for an emergency,” said Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld. “Unfortunately, we know that 27% of Americans do not have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency, and almost half of employees who are worried about their financial health are less productive at work.”

Employees can build emergency savings to help alleviate financial stress and improve productivity through the simplest of strategies — saving automatically with split direct deposit.  America Saves provides employers with the following free resources after signing up online for Wisconsin Saves.

• Three easy-to-use tools requiring minimal effort to educate your employees about split direct deposit.
• Digital items to support your communication efforts such as video, blog articles, and a participation badge.
• A Wisconsin Saves participation badge to proudly display to your employees, potential employees, and business partners.
• Please consider signing up your bank to participate in this program for your employees and also encouraging your business customers to do the same.

For questions regarding Wisconsin Saves, please email Carolyn Pemberton at cpemberton@consumerfed.org.