Welcome to HRTech cube, Edwin. Can you please share your professional journey and what led you to your role as VP of AI and Integrations at Financial Finesse?
I started my career over 20 years ago, which led to growing an IT Consulting business globally (Netherlands, Europe, North America), with a big focus on digital marketing and Microsoft Dynamics. Along the way, I saw the potential of AI to do more than just enhance business operations. In 2022, I found Financial Finesse and was deeply drawn to the company’s mission to democratize access to financial guidance that was once only available to the one percent. I saw a way to do more meaningful work that had potential to help millions of people. Today, Financial Finesse offers completely unbiased financial coaching to over 2.5 million employees across 20,000 organizations, provided as an employer-sponsored benefit.

In my current role as VP of AI and Integrations, I’m responsible for leading the strategy and development of AI-driven solutions that make our financial coaching programs more personalized and accessible. Over time with this kind of technology, we have the potential to go from impacting millions of financial lives to transforming tens or hundreds of millions with our holistic programs that include our online Financial Wellness Assessment, AI-driven financial coach Aimee, and live coaching. I work closely with cross-functional teams to integrate AI into our platform, ensuring that our tools are intuitive, impactful, and aligned with the needs of our users. Ultimately, my role allows me to combine my love for AI with my passion for making a difference.

In your view, why is it critical to ensure we keep the “human in the loop” when leveraging AI, especially in the context of employee financial wellness?
When we’re talking about people’s finances, we are talking about one of the most personal areas of their lives. That’s why AI can’t be the only thing they ever interact with – money decisions are just too personal. For us, AI is a valuable piece of the puzzle, but when it’s paired with live coaching, that’s when we see real results. The Certified Financial Planners we employ as full-time financial coaches are at the heart of everything we do. For example, our AI is trained on a closed circuit of resources, written and maintained only by our financial coaches, not the broader internet. This ensures safe and accurate information for the end user. Our proprietary BLUE system seamlessly connects human-based financial coaching (whether by phone or chat) to virtual coaching through Aimee. With permission, live coaches can see where users left off with Aimee and update things in real-time, making their conversations even more impactful and personalized.

So, our coaches ensure Aimee is providing the most accurate, safe information possible, and Aimee loops employees to our live coaches by keeping them on track through personalized reminders and next steps through their Financial Learning Hub and Personalized Action Plan. Our goal is to create experiences that make a lasting impact—where technology supports the human element, but doesn’t replace it.

Financial wellness is a growing concern for employees. How do AI-driven solutions help address these challenges effectively?
AI-driven solutions are transforming financial wellness by automating financial management, delivering proactive guidance, and providing hyper-personalized insights. At Financial Finesse, we leverage AI to create an integrated benefits and financial planning experience that empowers employees to do both in one place, while equipping employers with advanced analytics to optimize their financial wellness programs.

With built-in evaluations and human oversight, we are ensuring response authentication and continuous learning within a closed-source environment, rather than relying on the open internet. This embedded quality assurance system refines AI accuracy over time, balancing human expertise with machine learning.

Initially, this process requires extensive human training, but as the AI validates and differentiates between accurate and inaccurate responses, it progressively minimizes human intervention while maintaining reliability. The result is a highly adaptive AI-driven platform that delivers trustworthy, scalable financial guidance—giving companies confidence in deploying it to their employees and clients. Providing tailored, on-demand support to employees at all levels, regardless of their financial background, AI ensures that everyone receives the guidance they need to make informed decisions. Whether it’s through chat functionality answering specific questions, interactive tools providing tailored financial guidance, or automated reminders for key financial actions, AI makes it possible to support employees in a way that is both efficient and deeply personalized.

What role do you see AI playing in the future of employee financial wellness, and how can it create more personalized and impactful experiences?
AI will play a pivotal role in the future of employee financial wellness by bridging the gap between knowledge and action. For many people, understanding financial concepts and the array of benefits options available to them is only part of the challenge. The real hurdle is taking the action—whether it’s making a critical decision about retirement savings, investing in health benefits, or setting up an emergency fund. This action gap, driven by confusion, overwhelm, or simply inertia, can prevent individuals from achieving financial wellness, even when the information is available.

AI’s greatest potential in this area lies in its ability to offer highly personalized experiences that help individuals close this gap in a meaningful way.  AI can assess an employee’s unique financial situation, preferences, and goals to tailor financial resources and resources accordingly. AI can surface the exact information an individual needs at the right moment—whether that’s a reminder to enroll in a benefits program or a personalized savings plan based on their income and spending patterns.

We are working towards a future where AI can also act as an agent that completes critical actions for users—such as increasing their deferral rate into their retirement plan or choosing to enroll in a specific health care plan.  We expect this to dramatically impact employees’ awareness, appreciation and usage of their benefits

Can you explain how Financial Finesse’s AI financial coach integrates with employee benefits to provide maximum impact?
Aimee users have access to personalized, holistic technology that provides virtual AI-powered coaching to diagnose employees’ most pressing financial needs, while also instantaneously connecting them to relevant tools, benefits, resources, and live financial coaching to meet these needs. Our most recent innovation to Aimee, dubbed SmartBenefits, solves one of the age-old problems HR teams deal with: managing the confusion around benefits that costs time and money to address. Our SmartBenefits application lives in our Financial Finesse Hub and answers any benefits questions instantly, accurately, and safely. It essentially provides a way for employees to have a conversation with their benefits.  Employees just ask Aimee questions like, “What’s my 401k match?” and get clear, actionable answers verified by our financial coaches and supported by decision making tools and content.

“As fintech companies move forward with integrating AI, they must recognize that responsible implementation is not just a technical challenge but an ethical imperative.”

Employee participation in benefits programs is often a challenge. What innovative AI solutions are helping to improve engagement and participation rates?
AI is being used in a lot of ways to empower employees through the benefits decision process, which in turn, enhances employee benefits participation by making the process more personalized and accessible. Some of these ways are through: 1) offering personalized recommendations, in which the AI analyses employee data to suggest relevant benefits; 2) offering access to virtual assistants and coaches like Aimee which offer 24/7 support, answering questions and guiding enrolment; 3) providing predictive analytics which help identify trends to nudge employees toward underutilized benefits; 4) leveraging automated reminders which remind employees of key deadlines with timely notifications; 5) implementing gamification and simulations in order to motivate employees to maximize their benefits. We are only now tipping the iceberg in the ways that AI will effectively impact the benefits space.

What are the key considerations for balancing innovation in AI with ethical responsibility in the workplace?
A Chain of Thought system, with built-in human evaluation (financial experts, in our case), guarantees that all responses generated by AI have been authenticated by financial coaches or planners. Furthermore, these checks-and-balances not only validate AI but educate technology along the way so that it continues to get smarter and more precise.

What is your personal strategy for driving innovation while ensuring that technology aligns with employees’ real-world needs?
Driving innovation is what fuels me personally—I thrive on pushing boundaries, exploring new possibilities, and finding ways to make work more efficient, engaging, and impactful. However, I also recognize that innovation for the sake of innovation can be counterproductive. There is such a thing as moving too quickly, where technology outpaces employees’ ability to adopt, understand, or fully benefit from it.

Innovating too fast can lead to disruption rather than progress—employees may feel overwhelmed, processes may become fragmented, and adoption rates may suffer if people don’t see immediate value That’s why I believe in purposeful, human-centered innovation that ensures new technologies solve real problems rather than creating new ones.

For me, the key is balance—advancing forward while staying grounded in employees’ real-world needs. Innovation should feel empowering, not overwhelming—that’s what makes it truly transformative.

What advice would you give to HR leaders looking to leverage AI effectively for employee financial wellness programs?
First and foremost, ensure AI tools align with ethical guidelines and prioritize accuracy.  This protects your organization and employees from receiving inaccurate information. Secondly, make sure the user experience is personalized, relevant and actionable.  Rather than sifting through the weeds of irrelevant data points, employees should be able to focus on their personal goals.

What are your final thoughts on the role of AI in shaping the future of workplace benefits and its potential to transform financial wellness for employees?
AI is poised to revolutionize workplace benefits by empowering employees to make informed decisions quickly and easily, directly addressing the critical action gap which results in the average employee leaving a million dollars on the table over the course of their lifetime by not maximizing the benefits available to them. Through real-time, personalized decision-making tools, AI ensures employees can instantly access tailored recommendations and take immediate action—whether it’s optimizing retirement contributions or selecting the best health benefits. This personalized, on-demand support not only helps employees maximize their benefits but also fosters greater financial security.

For More Info: https://hrtechcube.com/hrtech-interview-with-edwin-jongsma/

For employers, AI delivers a strong ROI by ensuring employees fully engage with and utilize the benefits provided, maximizing the value of the 30% of salary spent on benefits. This not only enhances employee morale, engagement, and retention but also transforms the employer-employee relationship. Employees who see their employer as a true partner in their financial security are more likely to stay, creating a stronger, more committed workforce. In this way, AI doesn’t just support benefits professionals—it drives outcomes, changing lives by improving both financial wellness and organizational success.