When Mary Curtin, chief people officer, of 4imprint and a team member of Goodwill North Central Wisconsin connected nearly 15 years ago, they saw an opportunity for a partnership that would support each organization’s mission and goals. 4imprint had identified a desire among their employees to increase their financial literacy, stability, and wellness, and Goodwill NCW was equipped with the experts to make that happen.

In the initial stages of this partnership, Goodwill NCW provided a team of accredited financial counselors to 4imprint to provide one-on-counseling sessions to team members who had specific questions on things such as paying down credit card debt, purchasing a new home, or even saving for a big trip. In recent years their contribution has grown significantly. Goodwill now has an on-site financial counselor that offers 4imprint employees weekly counseling sessions in person, virtually, or by phone, as well as financial wellness workshops multiple times a month. Counseling sessions are also open to team members’ families.

“Our partnership with Goodwill starts with our approach to looking at team members as the whole person,” Mary says. “So when we look at services to provide to our team members, we look at what we can do to take away some of the worry and to make life a little easier.” She emphasized the importance of removing barriers and providing employees with the skills and resources they need to feel comfortable in their lives.

Kayla Countney, Mission Relations Manager at Goodwill NCW, echoes a similar sentiment. “At Goodwill, our mission is Elevating People by Eliminating Barriers to Employment, and sometimes those barriers are financial wellness related. Success for this partnership looks like 4imprint employees decreasing their stress, which in turn increases their productivity while on the job, less days missed at work, increased retention for their team and their culture overall, and increased engagement.”

“I am so happy my company offered this opportunity to us,” one of the program participants stated. “I have always wanted to have a better budget in place but needed more information. This process was painless and so very helpful!”

Both Mary and Kayla are excited to grow and expand this partnership and program going forward. “The future of this partnership means continuing to serve 4imprint employees with their financial wellness needs and continuing to be innovative in how we meet their needs,” Kayla says. “And the future of this program is really to expand it within our North Central Wisconsin area to individuals who can benefit from this and have already made known that they need it.” To learn more about Goodwill NCW’s financial wellness services, go to Financial Wellness Services | Goodwill NCW.