Rodney Bolden
Head of Industry Engagement and Learning
Morgan Stanley
Episode 162
Solving the Great Detachment: Financial Wellness and Ownership Drive Loyalty
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJune 3, 2025 · 15:03
Thesis
“Investing in employees' holistic well-being, especially financial wellness, and fostering an ownership culture through equity, are critical for combating low engagement and high turnover, provided these efforts are tailored and communicated effectively.”
Show notes
Only 32% of US workers are engaged at work. Gallup has a name for what's happening to the rest: The Great Detachment — and it's quietly more dangerous than the Great Resignation ever was. People aren't leaving. They're staying put, disengaged, and "soft quitting" in place.
Rodney Bolden has spent 38 years in financial services, the last half of that career focused entirely on financial wellness. As Head of Industry Engagement at Morgan Stanley, he sits at the intersection of people strategy and financial behavior — and he has a clear-eyed view of what's driving the detachment crisis. It's not just bad management or toxic culture. It's financial stress, lack of ownership, and the nagging sense that no one at the company is genuinely invested in your future. Rodney shares how the best employers are fighting back: building psychological safety so employees can show up as themselves, extending equity compensation to frontline workers (with one case study showing a 90% retention improvement), and rethinking how benefits are communicated — because the best benefit package in the world is useless if employees don't know it exists or trust it enough to use it.
His parting advice cuts to the core of good HR practice: "You don't know what you don't know. The only way to find that out is to ask." That means needs assessments, data disaggregated by income, veteran status, race, and gender — and then actually acting on what you learn.
- What "The Great Detachment" means — and why 50% of employees want to quit but quit rates aren't rising
- The ownership culture playbook — how equity compensation for frontline workers drove a 90% retention improvement at one company
- Why over 80% of equity recipients call it their top motivator — and what that consensus tells us about what employees actually want
- Financial wellness as an engagement strategy — digital tools, onsite education, and 1:1 coaching that reduce financial stress and increase focus
- The "Beyoncé party" problem in benefits — why poor communication makes even great benefits invisible
- How to disaggregate your survey data — finding the specific needs of veterans, non-English speakers, and other demographic groups hiding inside your averages
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What you'll take away
- 1Address the 'Great Detachment' by actively investing in employees' sense of respect, care, and career development to counter low engagement and 'soft quitting'.
- 2Foster an ownership culture through equity compensation, valuing employee input, and providing financial education to significantly boost motivation, engagement, and retention.
- 3Prioritize employee financial wellness by providing tailored resources like digital tools, onsite education, and one-on-one consultations, as financial stress impacts productivity.
- 4Ensure benefit communications are effective by conducting needs assessments and understanding demographic preferences (e.g., language, channels) to maximize benefit utilization.
- 5Disaggregate data from financial wellness needs assessments across various demographics (income, veteran status, race, gender, etc.) to identify specific group needs and tailor support.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Many HR professionals are unaware of 'The Great Detachment' (Gallup's term for current low employee engagement levels), indicating a gap in understanding a major workplace trend.
- •Despite 50% of employees wanting to leave their jobs, quit rates are not increasing, suggesting a prevalence of 'soft quitting' where individuals stay but remain disengaged due to market conditions.
In Rodney's words
“The Great Detachment is a term that was coined by Gallup to identify the current low levels of employee engagement in the workforce. Only about 32% of US workers are engaged at work and 17% are actively disengaged.”
Defines a critical problem (the Great Detachment) and provides stark statistics on current employee engagement levels.
“Over 7 out of 10 employees said that they have to hide aspects of themselves at work. So this company said, no, don't hide. We think that where you are, your identities have value.”
Highlights the importance of psychological safety and authentic self-expression at work for trust and belonging.
“Over 8 out of 10 employees that receive equity compensation say that equity compensation is the most effective way to keep them motivated and engaged in their role. So think about that. When do you get over 80% of employees agreeing about anything?”
Underscores the exceptional power of equity compensation as a motivator and engagement driver, indicating strong employee consensus.
“They increased retention by 90%. So incredible, incredible success story about how just building that ownership culture went a long ways toward combating any of that employee dissatisfaction, employee turnover, and employee engagement.”
Provides a powerful, quantifiable example of how an ownership culture can dramatically improve retention and engagement.
“Dave, you could throw the best party in the world, right? You think about the biggest stars. You got Beyoncé, you got Taylor Swift... But imagine if your invitations fall short... This benefit communications is where I see many employers falter.”
Uses a vivid analogy to illustrate how poor benefit communication can undermine even the best benefit programs.
“The biggest thing is you don't know what you don't know. And the only way to find that out is to ask.”
Emphasizes the fundamental importance of conducting needs assessments and surveys to understand employee needs and pain points.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Low Employee Engagement: Only 32% of US workers are engaged, leading to 'soft quitting' where employees stay but are unmotivated and unproductive.
- •High Employee Turnover: Some companies experience full staff turnover every 3 years, leading to loss of intellectual capital and increased costs.
- •Financial Stress: Finances are consistently the top stressor for employees, leading to distraction and decreased productivity at work.
- •Ineffective Benefit Communication: Employers spend large budgets on benefits, but poor communication strategies (e.g., wrong language, wrong channel) lead to low utilization and lack of employee engagement.
- •Lack of Psychological Safety: Over 7 out of 10 employees feel they have to hide aspects of themselves at work, hindering trust and belonging.
- •Lack of Investment in Employee Growth: Fewer than 4 in 10 employees feel someone is invested in their career, respect, or cares for them, leading to disengagement.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Rodney Miller focuses on financial wellbeing and financial wellness at Morgan Stanley
Introducing Morgan Stanley's Financial Wellbeing Lead
Only 32% of US workers are engaged at work and 17% are actively disengaged
Employee Engagement: The Great Detachment
This company created a culture of trust, respect, and belonging
Six of the Best Places to Work
Tell me about a time when implementing equity compensation had a significant impact
Equity Compensation Has a Significant Impact on Employee Retention and Eng
Company's benefit strategy successfully addressed diverse financial well-being needs of workforce
Employee Financial Well-being Strategy
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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