CU Times spoke with Devine about the program, who explained that the $18.7 billion, 760,349-member Alliant's all-digital structure and nationwide field-of-membership are reasons why this program works so well. Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

CU Times: What was your thought process for the creation of Alliant Amplify?

Devine: Employers today are proactively addressing the wellness of their employees holistically. And so most every employer has a physical wellness solution: A traditional health insurance plan, dental plan and those physical benefits. But you see more and more often employers thinking much more holistically about the mental wellness of employees and then the financial wellness of employees. Alliant Amplify is an employee benefit, targeted at customized ways to help employers address the financial wellness of their employee. And it's a co-branded approach that is designed to enhance and make that an even more compelling solution for the employer. But what is uniquely aligned is our national digital reach. So because we're a digital credit union, we have unmatched value. The rates that we can offer, the fees that we do not charge are just truly compelling and they become a foundation of the financial wellness solutions that we can offer.

CU Times: Walk me through the specifics of how Alliant Amplify works.

Devine: So what we do is we work with employers to create a holistic financial wellness experience that then sits within their own internal communication plans and websites, and then also extends into the Alliant Digital properties, so that the employer's brand also shows up within Alliant Digital Banking. And then in the context of that, we offer a full range of solutions to bring the value to the employee to help with their financial wellness.

So, for example, [the problem] one of the most common aspects of the program [solves is] employees all too often are not ready for an emergency. And data teaches us that a financially stressed employee is a less productive employee, is a less engaged employee, is less likely to be where the employer wants. And so they're distracted, they're less engaged.

What the solution does in Amplify is offers an emergency saving solution so that the employee is building savings habits, and there are some offers and incentives to bring that to life. But then when the emergency happens, instead of relying on high yield credit card debt or what all too often happens, borrowing away from a 401(k) program, the employee has an emergency savings program and they're able to feel comfortable, much more comfortable managing their finances. That would be an example of a specific solution in the broader financial wellness solution that we do.

CU Times: What are employers saying the needs are for the financial health of their employees?

Devine: I was meeting recently with the chief financial officer, the chief people officer and the chief human resources officer of a Fortune 500 company, and the issue on their minds was inflation – it's pressing every employee in the organization in their real lives. And we've all seen it over the course of the past year with price increases in the economy increasing faster than wage increases, and [we asked], what kind of additional solutions could they bring to the employee base to be able to create a sense of financial wellness in this economically difficult time?

And so this was two of the senior most leaders of a Fortune 500 company assessing what they could do to best help their employees in this difficult time. It was solutions like this.

CU Times: How do businesses use Alliant Amplify?

Devine: We'll partner with them to customize, to tailor unique solutions. Emergency savings is a core part of a solution that we landed on there and experience, data and behavioral economics teaches us that habits become really important when building good financial [health]. So a common design we'll work on with our employers is to reward the employee for saving. So think about how many times you've seen offers in the world to reward you for spending; you know, bonus points and cash rewards! With our employers, we'll reward employees for savings. For example, if they make consistent emergency savings deposits over a period of a quarter, and then the next quarter and over a course of a year, Alliant will provide additional bonus incentives to reward those habits.

CU Times: How many business partners do you have?

Devine: We have holistically over 400 organizations and they range in size and scope from Fortune 100 companies to professional organizations to some not-for-profits that we work with. Some examples would include large national employers, like [throughout] the history of Alliant [it] has had a tight partnership with United Airlines, [and] other large employers like CVS. Then you'll also see an increasing presence [of business partners] in the financial technology space. A technology company that works in the realm of deposit, account opening and growth that we partner with called MANTL – they're now a select employer.

CU Times: Is Amplify being used as an employee retention and recruiting tool?

Devine: One-hundred percent! The power of being a credit union causes employers to have a special fondness and trust for what we can offer and the mission-driven approach that we're taking to serve their employees. The power of being a digital credit union creates additional compelling solutions [and] because of our digital reach and cost structure, we can offer higher rates [and] low fees that others can't offer because we are able to take the benefit we get from our model and offer it back to our employers and employees. As a digital institution, we find ourselves working really closely with employers to co-create the design of their internal website, so [Alliant Amplify] shows up the right way. That's something that I think you haven't seen much of, and that's the magic of Amplify and why a lot of employers become very interested.

CU Times: Why do you think this approach with Amplify is working so well?

Devine: I would say at Alliant we recognize that what is different here is the nature of the digital approach that we take, the co-branding that's now occurring and because of the national digital reach.

We have a dedicated team whose great work is to work with the employer. They fill [the specific needs of the employer] into the design of the program and they fill it in the read-backs. They get on a consistent basis around how the program is performing and what the data shows and the design of solutions that are unique to the employer, bringing the full power of Alliant to support them.

People get a chance to understand who Alliant is and what we stand for.