Safeguard your financial future: Stress and anxiety are a part of everyday life in today’s fast-paced world. It has been well documented that problems with personal finances is a major contributor to stress and lost productivity at work. Fortunately, employers can help ease some of this stress and make steps to improve engagement by offering employees strategic solutions to safeguard their family’s financial future by offering financial wellbeing support in the workplace.
Safeguard your financial future: Your financial journey begins with your employer, they need to demonstrate that they understand employees’ personal financial ‘pain points’ and provide adequate support whatever level you may be at in your career. By offering a rounded solution, as part of the HR programme during onboarding and then continuously during your professional development, means that both you and your employer can work together to achieve positive financial wellbeing outcomes.
What should a financial wellbeing policy look like?
A good policy within your organisation should be viewed as a ‘financial education process’ using a support tool that will help you to negotiate your finances, in all stages of your life and career. It’s not a money-lending solution. It should be designed to help people maximise their financial opportunities and solve any issues they may be experiencing.
Elva does just this. Employers can offer an app-based range of financial education solutions to that can easily:
- Sync with your bank account and payroll system
- Improve your financial education
- Give free, practical, easy to understand financial education on a wide range of useful subjects (mortgages, borrowing, pensions, savings, investments, benefits).
- Help you to develop better money habits to improve your financial wellbeing
- Financial Coaching & Advice
- Develop your own financial plan with our help. Access to personalised information and advice from our regulated financial advisers.
Earned wage access is available for those who need a bit of extra help and don’t want to fall into the pay-day loan trap or buy-now, pay later for example. You will be coached into the right solution for you, this could be mortgage-rate related (does anyone know if their mortgage rate is the best out there?!) or very specific to benefits, savings, investments and pensions.
Patrick Leahy, Founder of Float said:
“We believe there is a crucial role that employers can play in facilitating help and support for their employees financial wellbeing. This isn’t just about providing things like earned wage access though, it’s about offering a holistic solution that covers all aspects of money management, from reviewing the right mortgage rate, having access to pension professionals, through to checking the benefits that may be available.
Employees are borrowing more money to cover expenses, struggling to manage finances as a result, and ultimately feeling less secure (and in some cases less motivated) in their jobs. As an employer, you can’t solve all of these problems all the time. But developing a strong employee financial wellness program can certainly help and acknowledges commitment and lets their workforce know where they can seek help if they need it.”
New research has found that 39% of employees believe the current state of their finances negatively impacts their mental health.
Conducted in collaboration with business wellbeing specialists Robertson Cooper, Aviva’s report ‘Thriving in the age of ambiguity: building resilience for the new realities of work’ explored how employees’ relationship with finances, work and hopes for the future have evolved as they adapt to the ambiguity caused by the last 12 to 18 months.
More than a quarter (29%) of respondents revealed that they had to borrow money to replace lost income, while 30% are concerned their money will run out. A total of 60% feel their financial situation controls their lives.
The research also found that more than two-thirds (68%) of employees with poor financial wellbeing think they are organised with their money, and 64% said they always try to minimise debt. Financial factors only accounted for half (51%) of someone’s sense of financial wellbeing according to the study, with the rest driven by other factors such as personality type.
The report also highlighted that those who suffer from poor financial wellbeing do not necessarily think of themselves as bad with money, which challenges the stereotype that money worries arise from disorganisation or knowledge gaps.
Employee financial wellbeing should be an integral part of creating a healthy workplace where people can flourish, reach their potential and make a significant contribution to their organisation’s performance. There is also, of course, the moral argument: we should take action because it is the right thing to do.
REQUEST THE FLOAT FINANCIAL WELLBEING SURVEY FOR YOUR ORGANISATION HERE
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References:
https://www.aviva.co.uk/adviser/documents/view/br01629c.pdf
https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/news/covid-19-debt-upsets-workers-finances/
