Culture Matters

We hear all the time about the amazing social safety net programs and innovative ways other countries are improving financial security for their people. Sometimes, we can adopt similar solutions, but other times, those ideas simply have no traction or just don’t work the same way here in the United States. There are a lot of reasons for that - legal, logistical, and political - but one you can’t ignore is culture. 

In the world of state-sponsored retirement programs, we can learn from the successes and challenges of programs like NEST in the UK or  KiwiSaver in New Zealand. I remember being in a conference where staff from several states had the benefit of hearing directly from officials in Ontario, Canada about their attempts to start up a similar retirement savings program. Even Canada, with so much shared history and culture, however, is still a very different place from the United States. 

While doing outreach for the OregonSaves retirement savings program here in Oregon, I had people tell me all the time, in all corners of the state, that “Oregon was different” or that “this isn’t New Zealand.” From the beginning, it was important for us to consider just what set apart Oregon and the people who lived there from other places and other people. You can design a great product or service, but nobody is going to use it if it doesn’t feel like it’s meant for them.

The first lesson? The only thing all Oregonians all share is geography. (That’s probably true for your state, too). Everything else can differ, including values, culture, experiences - you name it. That said, we did hear common, recurring themes. 

In some communities, people valued a sense of independence and self-sufficiency. Rugged individualism means you might not be a big fan government programs, however well intentioned or designed. 

In La Grande, Oregon, I wandered into a local financial advisor’s office to let him know the state was starting a retirement savings program, and I maybe got out two sentences before he went on an hour long tirade about all the ways we government bureaucrats would fail and mess everything up for everyone. 

Even though polls and research consistently show that folks on all sides of the political spectrum support the idea of state-sponsored retirement solutions, there will always be very vocal opponents who will oppose them purely on ideological grounds. Some employers may spend significant time and energy sabotaging the roll out of a program at their workplace for that reason. You might not be able to change folks’ minds, but you should be prepared to address it when it does happen. 

One way we addressed our detractors in Oregon was to make sure that the culture of our program was one of proactive, cheerful helpfulness.

We focused on high-quality customer service, overstaffing our call center. I gave out my cell number to anyone and everyone, taking calls at all hours of the day. 

Another important factor for our success in Oregon is that we engaged with communities from the very start and built relationships with community organizations and people of influence whenever possible. Those partnerships helped us design and build out the program together, making sure it better reflected the actual needs and preferences of communities and individuals.

Local community partners then became the trusted messengers who could help people access and understand the program in culturally appropriate ways. 

I remember a number of events and conversations I had at the Mexican Consulate in Portland, Oregon that were really eye opening for me. It was important for me to learn how retirement savings worked in Mexico, a system very different from the one in the US, in order to build communications and engagement plans in collaboration with our partners at the consulate and community organizations. 

Understanding cultural similarities and differences is vital, if you really want to make sure good ideas turn into solutions that actually work for the people you’re there to serve.

More to come! / Joel

Columnist and Senior Associate Joel Metlen is based in Oregon. Joel is a pioneer of the state facilitated retirement savings space, woven into a career of public service and innovation. At OregonSaves, Joel’s responsibilities ranged from marketing and employer engagement to operations and data analysis. You’ll see his insights from that experience, and more, here.

This piece was featured in the April 7, 2022, edition of Retirement Security Matters. For more fresh thinking on retirement savings innovation, check out the newsletter here.