Parents Initiative: Parents in the Workplace

Before beginning the interview, the interviewer will read and ask for agreement to the
informed consent and Privacy Notice:
You will be participating in an interview as part of a financial literacy research study to assess
programs offered to parents in the workplace. The Dodd-Frank Act authorizes the CFPB’s Office
of Financial Education (OFE) to “conduct research related to consumer financial education and
counseling.” Id. §1013(d)(3)(B). You will be asked to voice your opinion. You may be recorded
while completing this study. Approximately 18 people will participate in this national study. In
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this study has been approved by the
federal government’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under control number 31700036.
The information you provide through your responses to Information Experts will assist the study
sponsor, the CFPB, in gathering information to qualitatively analyze employers’ financial wellbeing program offerings for parents. The CFPB will not obtain or access any directly identifying
information from Information Experts about study participants. Audio recording of the
discussions will not be provided to the CFPB. The CFPB will obtain, and access, de-identified
results and aggregated analyses of those results only.
Participation in this exercise is voluntary. You are not required to participate or share any
identifying information with Information Experts, and you may withdraw participation at any time.
However, if you do not include the requested information, you may not participate in the study.
The interview is expected to last from 1 to 2 hours. There are no anticipated risks or
discomforts.
Participants who have any questions or concerns about this research project may contact Mr.
Baker Maktabi, Information Experts, 11425 Isaac Newton Square, Suite F-1, Reston, VA 20190,
703-787-9100.
Your verbal agreement indicates that you agree to participate in this study and that you have
heard and understood this information. By agreeing to proceed, you are surrendering any rights
to bring any claim against Information Experts in any administrative proceeding or in any court
related to your participation in this study.
Do you agree to proceed with this interview?

Interview Script
The following is the script to be used with all interviews independent of the organization’s
designation as a small or a large business.
My name is [NAME OF INTERVIEWER]. I work for Information Experts. We provide
market research services in addition to a number of other services to government and
commercial clients.
Today, I’m gathering information for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB is
the nation’s first federal agency focused solely on consumer financial protection. It was
created four years ago by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
to help consumer financial markets work for American consumers, responsible providers, and
the economy as a whole.

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During our time, I would like to gather input from you on employees’ financial stresses, the
financial wellness programs [COMPANY NAME] offers or has considered offering, and
how CFPB might support organizations’ financial wellness efforts.
Keep in mind that we are not testing you as a person or the organization that you work for.
Rather, we are gathering information to see how CFPB can support organizations and help
working parents create a better financial future for their families; so your straightforward
input is going to be very helpful to us.
I will be recording our session today. Its only use will be to assist me in writing a summary
report on the findings of our interview. All comments you make and direct quotes used in the
report will be anonymous. Neither the recording nor the transcript of the recording will be
provided to CFPB.
Do you have any questions before we get started?
Survey Overview
Research shows that parents are the primarily influence on their children’s financial lives. As a
result, CFPB has a Parents Initiative that is focused on helping parents build their children’s
financial futures, including the development of personal characteristics, values, and decisionmaking skills that are critical drivers of financial well-being in adulthood.
The purpose of our conversation is to gain a better understanding of the financial stresses and
needs of your organizations’ employees, the financial wellness programs that your
organization offers or has considered offering its employees, and to what extent financial
wellness programs might help parents—and by extension, your employees—build their own
financial well-being and that of their children.
Interview Questions
Background on financial well-being:
1. Has your organization investigated employee financial stress and how it impacts the
company? If “yes,” what were the findings?
2. Describe any steps your organization has taken to address employees’ financial stresses
and to lessen the impacts on the organization.
Background on parents:
3. What portion of your organization’s employees do you estimate are parents or primary
caregivers of children?
4. What types of financial wellness support do parents request, or have you observed that
they need?
Background on financial wellness programs:
5. What is your organization’s philosophy on financial wellness benefits in general?
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6. What types of nonretirement financial wellness programs has your company considered,
does it offer, or has it offered in the past? (e.g., education, counseling, peer-to-peer
programs, events)
7. What issues, barriers, or challenges has your organization encountered when considering,
implementing, or continuing a financial wellness program?
Note to interviewer: If the organization has considered, but never implemented a financial
wellness program, skip questions 8-10 and go to question 11. Otherwise, continue to question 8.
8. Please discuss in general the overall participation levels in each of your financial
wellness programs and the participation levels by different segments of your employee
population.
9. Please discuss the successes, the issues, and the results your company has experienced in
implementing its financial wellness programs.
10. What metrics does your company use to measure the impact of the financial wellness
programs against its bottom line? (Reduction in absenteeism rates, healthcare costs,
improved productivity, improved morale, attracting/recruiting new talent, etc.)
CFPB’s Parents Initiative:
11. Has your organization ever offered or would it consider offering financial wellness
programs or modules for parents that explain how they are the primary influence on their
children’s financial lives and how they can influence their children’s financial
capabilities?
12. If yes, have these parent-focused programs increased – or do you think offering these
types of programs might in turn increase – parents’ participation in your organization’s
financial wellness programs?
13. If offering financial wellness programs, has or would your organization create its own
financial wellness program offerings, purchase off-the shelf programs, and/or contract
with a third party to provide the offerings?
14. Would your organization utilize parent-focused tools, resources, and messages from the
CFPB through its Parents Initiative to support your organization’s financial wellness
efforts? If so, what tools and resources would be most helpful to your organization?
15. How else might CFPB support your organization in offering financial wellness programs
to parents or communicate the benefits of using employer-provided financial wellness
programs?
16. Do you have any additional insight that you think we might find helpful as we explore
offering support for employers on financial wellness programs?
Note to interviewer: If time allows, continue with these questions:
17. Which communication mediums does your company use to reach out to employees to
launch or promote benefits programs?
18. How frequently are messages communicated? (annually, quarterly, or ongoing)
19. What feedback mechanisms are available to measure employees’ satisfaction with current
benefits and wellness programs? (satisfaction survey, suggestion box, forum capability)

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