Why Employees Need Identity & Privacy Protection for Financial Wellness

COVID-19 — the worst pandemic in a century — triggered nearly 53 million unemployment claims in just 18 weeks. It’s no wonder there are millions of Americans currently fighting a financial battle. Workers are not only worrying about their job security, but also their student loans, credit card debt, and retirement savings as well. In uncertain times like now, financial wellness programs are more valuable than ever.

Along with financial insecurity, the virus also amped up privacy and identity risks, especially for remote employees. Cyber threats such as hacking, phishing scams, and spam make them vulnerable to identity theft and privacy compromises. In fact, IDX’ members have experienced a 50% increase in the number of targeted scams and phishing attacks via email, call, and texts since the stay-at-home-order began.

Compromises to people’s privacy that lead to identity theft and fraud can be devastating. According to the Javelin Strategy & Research 2020 Identity Fraud Study, identity fraud reached $16.9 billion in 2019, and one in five employees in a PwC survey said they’d been identity theft victims.

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Real Benefits for the New Normal

In a recent survey, 67% of companies expect to maintain their universal work-from-home policies permanently or for the foreseeable future. The privacy and security risks aren’t going away either, making identity and privacy protection even more essential to overall financial wellness.

With identity and privacy protection as an employee benefit, companies can:

• Offer income protection from losses due to identity theft. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, identity theft costs victims who experienced a financial loss an average of $1,343.
• Help protect against privacy compromises such as fraudulent and account takeover activity, including social media accounts. Active social media users have a 30% higher risk of becoming fraud victims, according to Javelin.
• Give employees the tools to detect and remedy the numerous types of identity theft and fraud — including medical, synthetic, employment, and child. Multifaceted identity and privacy protection offer the reassurance and peace of mind that simple credit monitoring can’t.
• Enhance core benefit offerings and ancillary insurance like supplemental health and life plans, accidental death and dismemberment coverage,[1] [2] long-term care, disability and life products — all of which have become table stakes for talent management. In fact, identity theft protection is the most-requested voluntary benefit.

Employees are the lifeblood of your business, and their financial wellbeing affects productivity and focus. And as remote work becomes part of our “new normal,” cyber-risks will only multiply in new and dangerous ways. Workers — especially technologically savvy Gen Zers and millennials — are increasingly aware of the digital risks to their privacy and identity, and they highly value benefits that help safeguard their personal information.

Download your free report: Financial Wellness + Identity & Privacy Protection: A Winning Formula