28 Aug 2018

Top tips for taming employees’ financial worries

What’s keeping your employees awake at night? For many UK adults, the answer is ‘money’. According to Neyber’s DNA of Financial Wellbeing 2018 research, more people worry about their finances than about divorce, living arrangements or even their physical health.

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Thirty nine per cent of the 10,000 employees surveyed said that financial worries are making them unhappy – and the younger they are, the more likely they are to be concerned.

Lack of sleep can be detrimental to workplace productivity, affecting employees’ ability to perform at their best and potentially damaging their mental health.

If money is preventing your staff from performing at their best, here are five tips to help them sleep easier at night:

1. Provide the tools to build a financial safety net. Neyber found that less than one-third of adults have a month’s salary in savings and 14 per cent have no savings at all. Helping staff to build a financial safety net of around six months’ salary will ensure they can cope if something unexpected happens and enables them to feel more in control of their money.

2. Give guidance on credit scores. An employee’s credit score is their passport to the best value deals and most affordable loans. However, three in 10 people say that they have no understanding of credit scores and 66 per cent don’t check their score regularly.

3. Understand employees’ needs. Seventy per cent of under-30s say they borrow regularly to cover basic finances. That can lead to money worries which quickly build up. If you offer an Employee Assistance Programme, use the aggregated data to create a picture of what’s worrying your employees and use it to establish how you can address their concerns.

4. Help employees rein in debt. Household debt has increased by seven per cent in the last year alone, so keeping borrowing under control is essential. Credit cards and bank overdrafts are easily accessible, but they are also costly. Consider offering an affordable loan scheme or debt consolidation service, and encourage employees to use it to reduce their exposure to debt.

5. Build employees’ financial know-how. Knowing more about money management builds confidence. Neyber found that 24 per cent of adults have little or no confidence when it comes to managing their money, so make sure staff are taking advantage of any financial education or advice on offer.

This article was provided by Neyber.