Employee Financial Literacy Will Help Companies Weather Challenging Times
<strong>Tampa, Fla. — Feb. 28</strong><br />The best hedge U.S. companies can have against the looming economic downturn is making sure their employees completely understand business acumen and financial literacy — basically, how a company makes and spends money.<br /><br />Raymond D. Green and Catherine J. Rezak, co-founders of Paradigm Learning, a corporate training and communications company that specializes in business games, business simulations and Discovery Maps, said it’s imperative for employees to be able to think like CEOs so they can make smarter on-the-job decisions and recognize how every action can affect the company’s bottom line and their own professional futures.<br /><br />On the heels of recent news that the U.S. economy lost jobs for the first time in four years and surveys showing the economy overtaking the Iraq war as Americans’ top concern, “Financial literacy and business acumen are more important than ever,” said Green, Paradigm Learning’s CEO. “More and more, companies want employees to be more productive, but they often have big expectations without giving employees the tools they need to do it.<br /><br />“Everyone is counting pennies on a personal level these days, and now they’re supposed to do it at work, too, with the stakes just as high. Companies have an obligation to make sure employees have the necessary information and education.”<br /><br />Financial literacy, a basic understanding of numbers on a corporate ledger, is at the heart of business acumen, which is an ability to interpret financial information and act upon it — a key characteristic of effective managers.<br /><br />“Sometimes, employees think there’s an inexhaustible amount of money for supplies, inventory, marketing and benefits if they see sales are rolling in,” said Rezak, Paradigm Learning’s chairman of the board. “But it’s harder for them to see the real costs of operating a business.”<br /><br />Such education has strong potential for being boring, however, which is why, almost 15 years ago, Green and Rezak developed “Zodiak: The Game of Business Finance and Strategy,” a business simulation that puts participants in the driver’s seat of a fictional company, forcing them to make key decisions over three time-compressed years. By the end of the day, participants have absorbed the main concepts of financial literacy and business acumen and can connect them to their real-life jobs.<br /><br />Zodiak has been played by more than 1 million people in 600 organizations worldwide and translated into six languages in 13 countries.<br /><br />“Business games and simulations are a perfect way to introduce and reinforce concepts to the broadest possible audiences, far more effective than traditional methods such as lectures and memos,” Rezak said. “By being immersed into hands-on situations, participants can actively receive the information being presented.”<br />
