Implementation and tools
About this toolkit / Module 3 - Implementation and tools
Before we get into the tools and communication types you can use, it’s important to understand some of the communication goals and principals that can lead to success.
Our research found that employees are more likely to engage when communications:
It was agency – the feeling that “I know what I can do next.”
For many Gen Z employees, major financial milestones may feel out of reach due to rising costs and delayed entry into full-time work. Employers can help build confidence and positive financial habits by celebrating smaller savings achievements along the way.
Examples of small wins:
- Enrolling in the plan
- Making a first contribution
- Increasing contributions by 1%
- Maximizing the employer match
- Building an emergency fund while saving for retirement
While Gen Zs have no shortage of financial content available to them, not all information is accurate, balanced or applicable to their situation. Employers can play a valuable role by connecting employees with credible, easy-to-understand resources that help them make confident financial decisions.
Employers can support employees by:
- Sharing short, engaging educational content
- Providing timely guidance at key financial milestones
- Promoting trusted financial resources and professionals
- Highlighting credible tools, calculators and projections
- Focusing communications on one clear action
Resources designed for engagement
Understanding Gen Z is only the first step; translating those insights into meaningful action can be the bigger challenge. To help you put these principles into practice, we've developed a suite of research-informed resources designed to make workplace savings programs more relevant, approachable and engaging for younger employees.
Developed through research and testing, these tools are informed by insights gathered from Gen Z participants, including a desire for clear acknowledgment of financial realities, practical guidance that can be acted on today and communications that focus on progress rather than perfection.
Whether you're looking to enhance engagement with your savings program or apply these principles more broadly across your organization, these resources provide a strong foundation to build from.
A practical guide designed to help sponsors understand the communication principles that resonate most with Gen Z. The guide provides actionable recommendations for language, messaging and framing, along with a checklist to help assess and refine existing communications. These principles can be applied to savings programs specifically or incorporated more broadly into organizational communications and culture.
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A collection of customizable email templates that sponsors can implement immediately. The messaging is designed to acknowledge the financial realities many younger employees face, encourage achievable next steps, and promote progress through small wins rather than overwhelming employees with distant or complex financial goals.
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Recognizing Gen Z's preference for concise, visual learning experiences, we've developed a library of short-form videos that deliver key savings messages in an engaging and accessible format. Inspired by the style and pace of content younger audiences consume every day, these videos communicate trusted, research-based guidance in a format that is more likely to capture attention and drive action.
We designed these resources to provide not just communications materials, but a scalable framework for engaging younger employees in a way that feels authentic, relevant and actionable.
While the content is rooted in financial well-being, the underlying principles – acknowledging employees' realities, celebrating progress and encouraging achievable next steps – can be applied more broadly to supporting broader workforce goals, including engagement, retention, trust and organizational commitment.
Share these articles with your Gen Z employees to help them better understand workplace savings, make confident decisions and take small steps toward their financial future.
Next module:
Considerations for plan design
This publication provides general information applicable to group benefit plans and is based on information available at the time of publication, which is subject to change.