We’re all aware of the rising cost of living these days, especially when it comes to essentials like food, fuel, and energy bills. What’s more, the National Insurance rise for both employees and employers has taken more money from pay packets.

Everyone’s circumstances are different, but employees across the income spectrum may have to tighten their belts, whilst the lowest paid may be at risk of real hardship.

Financial wellbeing benefits 

In this context, financial wellbeing benefits are needed more than ever. As an employer, you can provide guidance to help reduce financial stress, and benefits/products that provide better value than employees could access as individuals.

We are seeing an acknowledgement of the links between financial, mental and physical wellbeing – for example, money worries contributing to mental health problems, which can also manifest in physical symptoms. So for maximum effect, your financial wellbeing provision should sit within a holistic employee wellbeing proposition.

Include financial education within your wellbeing strategy

This will help reduce employee financial stress alongside helping them to build confidence in setting and achieving their own financial goals.

Include in your leaning and development offering a generic financial planning and budgeting module; it can be complimentary to more business-focused content. 

Choose the right offering and channels

It’s not new to have employees in their twenties and their sixties working together, but their life experience, values and attitudes are so very different. With the rise in retirement age facilitating baby boomers putting off their retirement, alongside millennials on track to make up half of the workforce in just two years’ time, employers will play a part in the financial wellbeing of the growing millennial workforce whose finances are so different from those of the generations preceding them. 

So ensure you offer a financial wellbeing package that offers choices for different life stages. This is more likely to deliver results than a narrow or rigid offering. Also consider communications channel - 70% of millennials say they’d like financial advice to be delivered digitally.

Debt management

Although every employee’s financial circumstances are different, when working in the financial services sector, certain roles are dependent on credit checks not only at onboarding stage but throughout their tenure in the business. 

Again, it is not for the employer to recommend a business to use, but it can offer value to employees to have an understanding of what reputable debt management companies may offer. If you become aware of an individual having such challenges you can ‘flag’ services (rather than providers) to them

Pensions

Ensure your pension collateral is easy to understand and use technical language sparingly. If the scheme is provided by an external partner, collaborate with them to hold regular savings/retirement seminars - helping employees understand and engage with their pension savings early provides great support both emotionally and financially.

Tax

Not the easiest thing to understand! HRMC do try hard to give clear explanations on their website and/or correspondence, but there is an opportunity for payroll/finance to proactively reach out – especially with new starters and/or where there is an impactful change of tax code – to offer any support should further explanations be of value.

Be aware of signs that may indicate employees are struggling financially

Absenteeism and increased sickness, employee engagement and satisfaction scores, feedback from staff via surveys and discussions, engagement with  your financial wellness programme, changes in productivity and performance, requests for out of cycle pay increases / subs from next due wage or salary payments.

Read more about how to identify and support employees with money worries here

 

To find out more about how Personal Group can help support your organisation with financial wellbeing, call 01908 605000 or email letschat@personalgroup.com.