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It is placing the burden of decision making on employees, on what are the benefits valued by our people.
"Information is power". The phrase, first attributed to Thomas Hobbes, seems tailor-made for Doutor Finanças. Dressed in a white coat, Rui Bairrada, CEO and co-founder of the project, tells the story of the day he registered the brand "Doutor Finanças" (literally translated it means "Doctor Finances"), in Oeiras.
Those who enter the website know that they go through all the stages of a financial literacy "hospital". From triage to the prescription of a "treatment", the needs of the "patient" are looked at in a particular and detailed way, from check-up to diagnosis. "We speak in medical terms instead of financial ones", says the CEO and co-founder of the project.
According to recent ECB data, Portugal occupies the 19th place - out of 19 places - in terms of financial literacy. "We want to somehow help people make more rational and less emotional decisions," he points out. "The purpose of Doutor Finanças is to help Portuguese people find better financial solutions on the market," says Rui Bairrada.
The project works in two main areas, he clarifies. "On the one hand we're a credit intermediary, which is what pays our bills. We find solutions for the people who come to us, we help them. If they want to buy a house, we help in looking for home loans; if they're unhappy, we help them find a better solution; if they have insurance, we help them find the best ones. On the other hand, we have a financial literacy portal, doutorfinancas.pt, which is the way we found of returning part of what we earn to society, which is to contribute in some way to the financial literacy of Portuguese people".
Every day, the Doutor Finanças team publishes four articles on the website, read by more than 1.5 million people, but the materials that help in prescribing these treatments range from YouTube videos to books, as well as lectures, conferences, and even a play for kids. The over 8,000 applications for home loans and insurance are managed by this "medical team" of over 180 people (and growing).
"We'd really like to help the country get out of the tail end of Europe and into greater financial literacy. We do this on two fronts: as credit intermediaries and, on the other hand, by giving back to society via our simulators, used by over five million people", explains Rui. "We create lots of tools that we believe help people to have more information to make better decisions", he points out.
The humanisation that Doutor Finanças brought to the personal finance sector in Portugal is transversal to the company. "We put on the white coats and show our faces", says Rui Bairrada. "We brought this humanisation to something that unfortunately is still taken with some shame, it's taboo. We all have problems talking about money, and it seems to me that this is one of the reasons why we are in the tail of Europe".
It is not surprising, then, that among this humanisation is a concern with flexibility, which is why the "Doctors" chose Coverflex. "The pillars that I identify in the organisation are, without a shadow of a doubt, empathy and proximity. We are more than 180 people now, all very different from each other, so it is increasingly important that we do this exercise of empathy on a daily basis, from one to another," explains Irene Rua, Human Resources Director at Doutor Finanças.
At first, says Iara Dias, Insurance Team Leader at Doutor Finanças, it was not easy to understand "the logistics" of using the platform. "Not all benefits work the same way, for some you can use the card directly, for others you have to use the reimbursement feature", she points out.
With Education as a priority, Iara invests most of her benefits package in university tuition, directly with the Coverflex card. "At first it wasn't easy but in the sessions and trainings it became simpler, and now it's much easier to deal with Coverflex".
Information and the freedom to make better decisions are, therefore, at least one prescription away. "Coverflex is precisely an additional layer that we have added to the several that we already had in what comes to flexibility. It doesn't seem logical to us to be so flexible when it comes to other issues, and then look at the salary package and continue to be rigid and give absolutely no say to our people and our future employees", says Irene Rua.
And she concludes: "It is placing the burden of decision making on employees, on the benefits valued by our people, and also having an important role in what comes to attraction. Because it seems to me that everyone will recognise the added value of having a say in the composition of their salary package".
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