Microsoft launches localized financial health support in 90 countries at once

This case study is based on insights by Brandon Diersch at nudge's webinar The Microsoft method and by Pam Hembrow in conversation with nudge co-founder Tim Perkins at the Silicon Valley Employers Forum. Quotes and figures are as shared by the speakers.

• ‍Established: 1975 ‍
• Industry: Software and IT Services ‍
• No. of employees: 228,000+ ‍
• Countries operated in: 90+  

The challenge

Software developers built Microsoft's reputation, but across a workforce of more than 228,000 people spanning 90 countries, they no longer define it. The employee base today reaches far more roles and markets than it once did, and each market brings its own tax and retirement rules. As a result, a financial health program built for one kind of employee in a singular market couldn't serve the rest.

"We previously had a solution in place that was very general, and it didn't necessarily resonate or pull employee interest,"

says Brandon Diersch, Director, Global Financial Benefits at Microsoft, speaking on nudge's webinar The Microsoft method.

Speaking with nudge at the Silicon Valley Employers Forum, Pam Hembrow, Director, Global Financial Benefits at Microsoft, points to the real cause: one-size-fits-all financial education, aimed at a workforce that had already outgrown it. "We knew there was that gap," she says. Earlier communications on saving and budgeting "landed kind of flat. They felt a little generic."

The solution

Microsoft used nudge, an impartial financial health platform, to reach scale without losing local relevance or individual personalization.

The team backed that commitment with how they rolled out the program: everywhere at once, across 90 countries, rather than phasing in market by market.

"We thought it was most prudent to roll it out in one go," Diersch says.

During a UK retirement awareness campaign and ahead of festival season in India, nudge prompted employees with messages built around what was happening in their market, not a single global template.

Hembrow says these are the moments when employees notice the difference: "People really start thinking, Microsoft is adding value here, they're helping me in my personal life as well."

When data from nudgenomics, nudge's analytics dashboard for employers, showed savings, investment and tax were what employees cared about most, the team acted on it in China, building a session on those topics that drew over 1,000 employees.

For regulated decisions like the UK retirement plan transfer, Microsoft kept the line between guidance and advice clear: local retirement plan providers stepped in for that final step, working alongside nudge rather than replacing it.

The results

Employee impact

• 73% of employees who have used nudge three or more times
• 1,000+ employees in China joined a tax-change session after nudgenomics identified tax as a top interest

Employer impact

• “Financial wellbeing” now one of Microsoft's three wellbeing pillars
• 45% participation in a voluntary retirement plan bulk transfer, against a typical 25% benchmark