DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Culturally relevant education at work and online is helping Hispanic employees learn more and save more for retirement, according to new data from Principal Financial Group^®.

Principal^® created the Hispanic Market Program to provide specialized retirement education for employers with large Hispanic workforces. Since launching the program in 2013¹:

• 401(k) plan participation among Hispanic employees in plans with administrative services by Principal is up to 66 percent (a 10 percent increase)
• Nearly half (45 percent) either enrolled in their employer’s retirement plan or increased their deferral on the spot after hearing about its benefits
• Those who enrolled did so at an average of 5 percent of salary, instead of the more typical 3 percent

“We’re encouraged by these results and are working hard to expand the program to more plan sponsors,” said Carlos Rojas, director of consumer and cultural engagement at Principal. “According to our data from plans under the program, just slightly more than half of eligible Hispanic participants are enrolled in their workplace retirement plan.”

Elements of engagement

Recognizing that overcoming culture and language barriers requires more than a simple English-to-Spanish translation, Principal based the Hispanic Market Program education strategy on employee needs and acculturation level.

The program focuses on key elements of engagement that:

• Address cultural influences that may undermine retirement savings, such as sending money home or moving back to the employee’s country of origin
• Identify, develop and integrate cultural elements to help simplify more complex financial topics
• Incorporate levels of culture and language by analyzing the workforce, picking up on what’s culturally unique and making suggestions to plan sponsors so they can customize their plans

The Hispanic Market Program is part of a larger initiative at Principal that aims to provide relevant experiences to targeted consumer segments.

Success story

Texas-based Structural & Steel Products wanted to find a way to motivate more Hispanic employees to participate in its 401(k) plan.

The firm offers a 401(k) plan to its 230 employees, of which more than 70 percent are Hispanic. Not only was the Hispanic participation rate lower compared to that of non-Hispanic employees, many who were participating weren’t taking full advantage of the employer match.

After using the education strategy from Principal:

• Participation rate of Hispanic employees nearly doubled to 68 percent
• Average deferral rate of Hispanic employees increased nearly one percentage point to 5.42 percent (from 4.5 percent)
• 53 percent of Hispanic employees now defer enough to receive the full employer match of 5 percent

Principal.com now available in Spanish

Principal recently launched principal.com/es, a culturally relevant Spanish version of pre-login principal.com. It offers many of the same features and educational content as the English site.

For more research, analysis and insights from Principal, visit the Principal Knowledge Center and connect with us on Twitter.

About Principal^®

Principal helps people and companies around the world build, protect and advance their financial well-being through retirement, insurance and asset management solutions that fit their lives. Our employees are passionate about helping clients of all income and portfolio sizes achieve their goals – offering innovative ideas, investment expertise and real-life solutions to make financial progress possible. To find out more, visit us at principal.com.

This document is intended to be educational in nature and is not intended to be taken as a recommendation.

¹ Results based on 1,731 participants exposed to the new Hispanic 401(k) education program made available by Principal.

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