Supporting employees’ financial wellbeing in 2023 and beyond
There’s been a huge focus in recent years on supporting employees’ physical and mental wellbeing – and rightly so. But could organisations be doing more to support their people’s financial wellbeing? With the cost-of-living crisis and rocketing energy bills hitting people hard, there’s lots internal communications professionals can do to help promote a truly holistic approach to employee wellbeing – and that includes financial wellness.
What is financial wellbeing?
The Money and Pensions Service describes financial wellbeing as ‘feeling secure and in control of your finances, both now and in the future’. So basically, knowing that you can pay the bills, feel confident about dealing with the unexpected, and are on track for a healthy financial future.
Isn’t financial wellbeing something only lower-paid employees need to worry about?
The latest Close Brothers Financial Wellbeing Index found 94% of employees worry about money – and that includes employees across all ages, industries and salary brackets. It’s a staggering amount – and this research was conducted in 2019, way before the cost-of-living crisis began dominating the headlines.
What’s more, more than three quarters (77%) of people with money worries say this impacts their performance at work. So if you think your colleagues are immune from money-related woes and stress, think again.
Why should organisations care about financial wellness?
Until recently, the concept of employee wellbeing or wellness has focused largely on making sure people feel healthy and happy in body and mind. Many organisations have pulled out all the stops to ensure their people have mental health support, and tools and resources to pursue a physically healthy lifestyle. This is great. But it has left financial wellness feeling a little unloved, on the sidelines.
However, mental health and physical wellbeing are inextricably linked with our finances. The Mental Health Foundation highlights how debt can trigger or exacerbate conditions like anxiety, depression and stress. They also point out having a mental health condition makes earning or managing money even more of a struggle.
The Money and Pensions Service points out money worries are the leading cause of stress for UK employees. And when you consider stress is a leading cause of long-term staff sickness – not forgetting the hugely detrimental impact stress has on productivity and employee engagement – you start to realise how financial wellbeing is as important to a business’s bottom line as it is to an employee’s wellbeing.
What are businesses doing to help employees combat rising living costs?
The cost of living crisis prompted big firms including O2, John Lewis and HSBC to give their employees additional cash to help them make ends meet. Other firms have offered pay rises. Both of these approaches will clearly make a difference in helping people to combat rising living costs, and if your business can do the same then great.
But if that’s not something your organisation can stretch to, don’t panic. There are still lots of benefits you can introduce that will have a real impact on your employees’ financial wellbeing. And if your organisation already offers financial support as part of a wider benefits package, you can make a real difference with wellbeing communications that shine a light on everything that’s up for grabs right now.
What kind of benefits do employees value the most?
Company-sponsored pensions, private health insurance and healthcare costs reimbursements are some of the most valued employee benefits, according to Remote’s 2022 survey of European and US employees.
However, what one employee views as a fabulous perk might be seen as pointless by another. The only way to get a true feel for the kind of financial support your people value – and equally importantly, what they don’t value – is to ask them.
And remember, a perk that doesn’t appear to have a direct impact on your people’s financial wellbeing might be the thing that makes the biggest difference.
For example, when it comes to the benefits most valued by employees, flexible work hours top the list whilst 95% of employees say they care more about flexible hours than remote work.
What’s more, 92% of employees say they’d support a four-day working week – and acknowledge that this might result in a trade-off, such as longer hours on days they did work.
If you’re wondering, how will a four-day week or flexible working help with financial wellness, remember financial health is directly linked to physical and mental health. An extra day off or working patterns that fit around people’s personal commitments might give them extra time to focus on their financial wellbeing. Or, it might simply give their physical and mental wellbeing a boost.
This is about viewing wellbeing holistically and realising that an employee suffering from burnout or work overload is more likely to struggle with their financial health, as well as increased stress levels.
So, how do you find out what your people value? Pulse surveys are a quick and easy way to gauge sentiment around the financial wellness package you offer – what people like, what people don’t like, and where there’s room for improvement.
Yammer or Microsoft Teams are great for sparking conversations, with the option to create polls or surveys to add further data to the mix.
And for more in-depth insight, you could try focus groups or drop-in sessions where you can gather rich qualitative data.
Gathering employee opinions takes a degree of investment, but it’s surely much more savvy than watching your organisation plough money into ‘benefits’ that fail to hit the mark.
Make it easy for your employees to know about the financial wellbeing support available
We bet your organisation already offers perks that enhance their financial wellness, whether that’s an Employee Assistance Programme, Subsidised Health Scheme, financial mentoring, money counselling, or discounts off local businesses. These can all be hugely beneficial. But only if your people actually know about them.
Health schemes, for instance, are often jampacked with benefits and cash reimbursements that are there for the taking – yet the documents that outline these perks can be akin to War and Peace. And if your colleagues received all these documents during their induction period, chances are they were either too busy to read through them, or overwhelmed with the information and technical language.
As an internal comms specialist, you’ll be a pro at sifting through complex information and pulling out the key points – and then presenting it in an engaging way. So why not create a dedicated space on your intranet where people can easily gen up on the financial support available? Perhaps a ‘special edition’ newsletter that highlights the discounts or cash benefits available would work well? Or maybe a ‘financial wellness week’ featuring guest speakers like financial advisors, themed activities and information drops will be the strategy that best suits your colleagues.
And remember that using visuals help people engage with, absorb and remember information much more effectively than text alone. So, why not transform that 20-page medical benefits document into a visual one-page fact sheet, or create a map of the local businesses where they can take advantage of discounts?
There are so many ways to bring this important theme to life, so pop on your thinking cap and get creative.
After all, supporting people to focus on enjoying their work rather than worrying about money will enhance their wellbeing both in and out of the office, leading to happier, more engaged and more productive employees.
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