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We now have better information on workers’ needs. Yet, as data on workers gathers into richer digital profiles and identities, the potential for harm increases.
This guide is designed to help employers navigate how to decide when and if to adopt new technologies to support their workers’ financial security, with an eye toward ethics and privacy.
Dive into this guide
Current Context
Many employers now offer a variety of resources to help stabilize workers’ funds to help avoid short-term financial difficulties.
Possible Intersections
How are tech trends driving change across all industries, and how may they show up in the worker financial security context?
Expert Insights
HR decision-makers, labor advocates, social entrepreneurs, and experts in financial security share their perspectives.
HR Resource
How to navigate researching and implementing new services, with an eye toward improving the financial lives of workers.
About this series
In 2022 alone, an estimated 97 zettabytes of data were created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide, a more-than ten-fold increase from just ten years ago. A single zettabyte is one trillion gigabytes or approximately equivalent to the amount of data you would need to stream Netflix in Ultra HD for 16 million years. The colossal and growing corpus of data across all facets of life is shifting both opportunities and risks for workers. We now have better information on workers’ needs, enabling tailored benefit offerings, greater interoperability between service providers, and more avenues for workers to make use of what’s available to them. But as data on workers gathers into richer digital profiles and identities, the potential for harm grows. New technologies may improve worker financial security, but employers must remain cautiously optimistic, considering use of these tools critically and thoughtfully to ensure that they deliver on their promises of increased opportunity, wealth, and wellbeing for workers.
In this context, Aspen Digital hosted a series of workshops in early 2023 on the impacts of introducing tech tools into the services and products that employers offer to a variety of workers such as gig, hourly, undocumented, and salaried workers in an effort to support their financial wellness, both today and in the decade to come. These conversations brought together leaders from the U.S. and Europe in worker financial security, employer-offered services, and labor relations to discuss tech trends, potential opportunities, and needed alignments. We explored the intersections of topics like access to earnings, savings, and loans with personalization, alternative data sources, privacy, and worker governance.
The result is this three-part series detailing the state of current interventions, possible intersections between emerging technologies and financial wellbeing, and forward-looking insights from experts in the field. These insights culminate in a guide for HR professionals, which includes key questions to help employers navigate how to decide when and if to adopt new technologies to support their workers’ financial security, with an eye toward ethics and privacy.
Acknowledgements
We extend our immense gratitude to all those who generously shared their time and expertise during our workshop sessions, and during the research and compilation of this resource. The invaluable contributions from individuals across various domains have truly enriched this endeavor.
Thank you to the human resources representatives who provided profound insights into the challenges faced by workers and employers in maintaining financial security in an evolving work landscape. Their willingness to share their experiences and perspectives has been instrumental in shaping the content of this report.
Thank you also to the worker and labor rights advocates and financial health researchers who graciously shared their extensive knowledge and unwavering dedication to ensure fair treatment and financial wellbeing for workers. They provided crucial guidance and expertise in understanding the intricate dynamics of the modern workforce and the potential impact of emerging technologies on financial security. Their dedication to championing workers’ rights has been a constant source of inspiration.
Finally, thank you to the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth for supporting this work and for their commitment to economic equity.
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AuthorS
Morgan McMurray, Shanthi Bolla, & B Cavello
