Ways to introduce financial wellbeing to a global workforce
Cater to different groups and demographics
The starting point of any programme should be to determine the best fit for the culture and demographic of your workforce. If you’re a global organisation it’s likely this will be diverse, so consider a multi-channel, multi-benefit approach.
Ultimately employers must spend the time to understand the needs of their employees, both from a financial and lifestyle perspective. If their workforce is financially affluent and well rewarded, then the opportunity to seek financial advice and plan for the future is very appealing. At the other end of the spectrum, lower income employees may be more appreciative of efforts to make their salary go further with offers and discounts.
Support your strategy with employee benefits
Employers can do a lot by offering employee benefits that help support financial wellbeing. Whether it’s help with the weekly shop, vouchers for lifestyle-related goods and services or discounted tickets to the latest music events, employee discount schemes are a great place to start. They’re simple to implement and can easily be tailored or packaged in a bespoke way to encourage engagement and offer a range of money saving opportunities.
On top of this, offering a lifestyle benefits and concierge service is an increasingly popular way to support your staff’s finances. Many assume that concierge services are the preserve of high-flying city executives who require a dedicated team to assist them with everything from bespoke holiday planning to organising a cleaner. In fact, they are for everyone, acting as a practical way to help your employees save time and money. Booking travel, flights, and making holiday arrangements can be time-consuming. By offering a telephone concierge service, with dedicated representatives looking out for the best deals, you can take the hassle out of the process for your employees and save them money.
Work to change behaviours
Employers should go above and beyond things like pensions and debt management to provide support around finances that will have a long-term impact on employees’ lives. Changing behaviours and habits forms a key part of this activity and this often comes down to education.
Education should focus on helping people at all levels better understand budgeting, childcare, debt, travel money and wedding planning, and can be integrated with other money saving benefits as part of a broader package.
The best financial education strategies are segmented and personalised, both in terms of the subject matter (eg content may focus on paying off student debt for graduates, or becoming a parent for those a generation older) and also in how they are delivered (interactive tools and apps, financial education seminars or one-to-one coaching).
Go digital
Communication and access are some of the biggest challenges for global employers. Taking a digital approach to your financial wellbeing strategy can pay dividends in ensuring that what you are doing caters for a wide range of employees in different locations.
The digital approach can also allow you to do some innovative and interesting things. We have worked with a number of employers who have chosen to have a dedicated wellbeing portal, of which financial wellness is an important aspect. This allows them to provide access to different related benefits (salary sacrifice, voluntary benefits and concierge) alongside information and guidance on financial wellbeing related topics – essentially tying all of the different aspects we have discussed above, into one easily accessible hub. Other innovative tech-led approaches are covered in the Employee Financial Wellbeing (2017) report and include those that link to payroll and provide financial advice based on individual’s circumstances.
With developments like gamification also top of the agenda for many forward-thinking employee engagement specialists, the digital approach clearly opens doors for further experimentation and innovation around the delivery of financial wellness support.
This article was provided by Xexec.
In partnership with Xexec
Xexec is the UK's leading Reward and Recognition and Employee Benefits provider.