5 ways to help your employees' financial wellbeing

There are always distractions at work, and most of them can’t be helped. However, research by Willis Towers Watson highlights that over half of employees are experiencing financial worries, making for a major distraction that is understandably both personal and professional.

Unfortunately talking about money is still seen as taboo and this can exacerbate the problem- but it is a problem employers need to address. Poor financial wellbeing impacts negatively on employee engagement, productivity and ultimately company performance.

The scale of the problem – a working nation in financial difficulty

More than one in ten (11%) UK employees are financially ‘slipping’ – struggling to make ends meet and using expensive forms of borrowing
Almost two thirds of the working nation are financially ‘balancing’ – focusing on their current financial situation rather than saving for the future
Nearly half (46%) of employees worry about their finances:
- 1 in 5 lose sleep worrying about finances
- 2 in 10 said that worrying about their finances affects their work
- 2 in 5 only have up to a month’s savings to tide them over and just 58% of people feel confident about handling unplanned expenditure of up to £500

Source: Barclays 2015

Why should employers care?

Financial worries can stop employees performing to the best of their ability because those who are struggling financially also report high levels of stress and tend to be in poorer health.

Financial problems are a leading cause of stress and are linked to further issues such as lack of sleep, unhealthy behaviours such as an increase in consumption of alcohol, and depression.

While the main issue may be related to your employee’s private financial situation it can lead to a significant negative impact on their colleagues. If an employee is unable to concentrate on tasks, their productivity and quality of work suffers, absenteeism rises, and workplace accidents increase. This negatively impacts on the rest of the team who then must compensate for a team member’s reduced productivity, errors and absence.

Offering financial wellbeing benefits can have a positive effect on your business. Barclays found that 38% of employees said that they would move to a company that put financial wellbeing as a priority, so offering financial wellbeing benefits to your employees will not only improve staff loyalty but could also improve employee engagement.

5 ways to help your employees’ financial wellbeing

Employers can help relieve their employees’ financial stress by offering a choice of flexible, and personal financial wellbeing benefits and rewards.

Here are five of the most popular financial wellbeing benefits and rewards ideas for your staff…

1) Vouchers and discounts

Employees can access great savings through vouchers and discounts. HR professionals can use gift vouchers and cards to reward employees through their employee recognition and reward programme to help incentivise staff over stressful periods.

Equally an employee discount scheme can motivate and support employees, helping them save money on a huge variety of purchases without having to change their shopping habits.

2) Top-up cards with cashback

Another option to help employees ease their financial burden is with cashback. Prepaid cashback cards encourage employees to manage their monthly budgets as they can only spend the amount loaded onto the card.

In addition, using the card for their everyday shopping will also earn them money back which is loaded directly back onto the card. (You can also use cashback cards as an employee reward mechanism to reward employees and improve motivation.)

3) Earn extra rewards

Give employees the opportunity to earn extra rewards with gamification. Games and quizzes can be used to effectively improve product knowledge and test employee knowledge of brand values.

Gamification uses elements of game play in non-game contexts, in other words, work functions are turned into games and these games also reward active participants. Using gamification can even help you improve morale and motivate employees through the January blues.

4) Review financial arrangements

The start of a new year is a great time to encourage employees to look over their financial arrangements to ensure they are getting the best out of them. So many employees don’t know where to start when it comes to savings and pensions and the market is ever more complex.

Support employees by offering financial workshops on budgeting, pensions and savings- or give them access to an Independent Financial Adviser who can offer them independent practical advice through their employee benefits scheme.

5) Fuel gift cards

Christmas is a time when we spend a lot of time travelling and in times of rising fuel prices a fuel gift card is a great way to support employees – in fact, over 35 million adults in the UK would like one! They can be used to pay for petrol or diesel at any fuel station in the UK and make an enticing reward for employees.

It’s important to recognise that not all employees will have the same financial wellbeing needs. Financial wellbeing needs differ between generations, for example older employees will be more concerned with saving for retirement while younger employees will be concerned about managing their finances in the short-term. Employers need to ensure that they are offering a range of benefits that support financial wellbeing suitable to the generational split of their workforce.

Communications is key

Employers need to address the taboo nature of talking about money and a good communications plan can help towards this. HR professionals need to ensure that a comprehensive communication strategy is in place to ensure employees are aware of the financial wellbeing benefits available to them, how those benefits can help them and how to access them efficiently.

Communications about these benefits should be simple, clear and routine with case studies providing great real-life examples of how to get ahead. Use real stories to address the reticence of talking about money, with case studies to help illustrate.

Financial worries and the stress they cause may be a significant issue for your employees, but it is possible to stop them from becoming a problem in the workplace. For many employees, providing benefits and rewards that can save staff money or help them stretch their salaries further (such as cashback cards and staff discount schemes) are popular and can reduce the stress levels caused by financial worry. With all this in mind employers who offer financial wellbeing benefits stand to not only improve the wellbeing of their employees- but also the wellbeing of their business.

James Malia is the director of employee benefits at P&MM Motivation, part of the Sodexo family.