07 Aug 2020

Ways to support furloughed employees with their financial wellbeing

Since the UK went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than eight million workers have been furloughed on the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. This has meant that many workers have had a reduction in their salary and are not working for the first time in their careers. This can pose many challenges for furloughed workers, and it is really important that as an employer you support your people with these challenges.

The scheme is due to close in September, but this means there is still potentially several weeks until your people will be back to work. Below we explore some of the different ways you can support your furloughed employees with their financial wellbeing.

Employee assistance programme

An employee assistance programme (EAP) is an extremely valuable benefit and one that many employers across the UK offer. An EAP provides free, accessible support and advice to your people. This benefit can be extremely helpful for furloughed workers as they can get support and guidance on a range of different topics like mental health, financial wellbeing and any other worries they may have.

If you offer an EAP, it could be a really good time to promote this. Your people are likely to have worries around coronavirus, and so reminding them that there is support for them could be highly valuable. For furloughed workers, it could even be worth tailoring specific communications to update them on the range of different support services an EAP offers and how it could help them with their current challenges.

Financial wellbeing resources

Another way to engage with your furloughed employees and support them with their financial challenges is to offer financial wellbeing resources. Many organisations have financial wellbeing resource centres hosted on their website, like ours. This can be a great way to engage and support people in these difficult and challenging circumstances.

There are many different resources you could offer here such as articles, videos and even provider support. Many insurance and benefit providers will also have their own resource hubs so promoting these to your people could be really valuable too. These will be relevant to your people, as they have their workplace benefits through these providers.

Webinars

Financial wellbeing webinars can be a great resource to offer to your people. Ensure your webinar content is relevant and focuses on employees’ personal financial requirements.

You can invite organisations to talk about financial topics. Many benefits providers may have teams that can present to your people and talk about how they may be able to help, so it’s worth getting in touch with them and asking the question. Ensuring your content is relevant to your people will ensure effective outcomes.

Discounts

Many organisations offer workplace savings, which effectively offer your people discounts on products and services they buy. Often this can be an undervalued benefit, but effective communication and promotion here is key. If your furloughed people are struggling with their finances in the current climate, it is highly likely that this benefit will offer more value than ever before.

It is really important that you communicate the benefits that this can offer to your people while on furlough and the support it can offer them financially through this period of economic uncertainty.

Good communication

Good communication with your people is one of the simplest and most effective ways you can support your furloughed workers.

Keeping an open communication strategy is essential to keep the link between you and your furloughed employees strong. Communicating on the topics and benefits they are likely to make good use of at the moment is really important. This will ensure your furloughed workers will continue to feel valued and maintain your relationship with them whilst they are not at work.

This article is provided by Johnson Fleming.