Snowball planners to advise Vodafone staff

The Snowball Group has signed a deal with Vodafone to provide financial advice to the telecommunication company’s 800 staff in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Under the arrangement, announced today, Snowball financial planners will provide a free initial “financial health check” to Vodafone staff.

Snowball managing director Tony MacDonald says the arrangement is part of a wider trend for employers to offer their employees “non-cash benefits”, such as financial planning.

"We are finding more and more that progressive employers, such as Vodafone, are including financial planning as part of their employee benefit package,” he says.

“Financially secure employees are more likely to deliver higher productivity, and the positive effects of providing advice at the workplace have a flow on effect to other aspects of employee behaviour.”

The deal marks the fifth such arrangement for Snowball in the past four months, after its signed similar agreements with the Australian Human Resources Institute, the Charles Parsons Group superannuation fund, P&O and the Catholic Schools Super Fund of Western Australia.

The initial free service to Vodafone staff will include access to Snowball’s on-line retirement simulator and financial planning education material.

Vodafone employees who seek advice beyond the free service will have access to Snowball’s financial planners on an ongoing basis.

Vodafone director of human resources Deb Howcroft says: “The service is part of our on-going commitment to providing our staff with access to support programs which create and impact a positive lifestyle balance. We have already had an extremely positive response from our staff.”