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13 Apr 2023

Why financial tools are a key benefit for your employees

Employee wellbeing and retention can hinge on how financially secure they feel

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Financial anxiety is everywhere these days. From inflation and global market disruptions to anxiety about retirement funds and financial scams, people are on a razor’s edge. Even long-time financial institutions don’t feel safe.

This anxiety isn’t an issue for people in one or two countries or just a region either. Globally, nearly half of employees feel anxious about their finances. Nudge’s new global study of more than 3,000 global respondents across 46 countries and six continents shows that between 2022 and 2023, the number of people surveyed who want their employers to offer financial education benefits and tools rose dramatically, from 26% to 42%.

Financial education is no longer a nice-to-have for employers, it’s a must. It’s also a business imperative for companies that want to encourage better retention and wellbeing in these challenging times.

Nudge’s study uncovered several reasons why organisations need to build a case for effective, personalised and unbiased financial education for employees.

  • Boosting employee commitment With unemployment low in many regions, companies need employees as much as employees need them. More than half of the people surveyed globally said that financial wellbeing programmes boosted their commitment to their employer and 70% said having diverse benefits helps build the employee-employer relationship.

    Better financial education programmes are key to showing employees that the commitment is mutual.
     
  • Understanding key benefits As employees grapple with financial anxiety, they need to understand the impact that benefits can have in meeting their needs. Employees who receive financial education have a 34% stronger understanding of their employee benefits and 41% have increased their retirement savings.

    Employees who feel more secure in their financial future are better able to cope with challenging economic conditions.
     
  • Improving employee wellbeing Anxiousness about finances can lead employees to feel helpless or overcome by uncertainty. Our research found that employees in financial wellbeing programmes are 81% less likely to feel overwhelmed by debt and 66% more hopeful about their finances. Half of people were also more likely to be making progress toward their financial goals.

Good intentions, but not the tools

Employees and employers alike recognise the value of financial education, but there’s a catch. While 82% of HR and benefits leaders agree education is important to financial wellbeing strategies, only 20% offer educational resources.

That makes the tools that boost employee commitment, benefits understanding and wellbeing relatively rare based on the critical needs people have today. That has to change.

Financial wellbeing is now the whole organisation’s responsibility.

People can’t turn off anxieties about their financial situation when they go to work and organisations can’t hope to address these challenges with siloed approaches of the past. A global problem requires a global solution, one that unites all the critical stakeholders in the organisation to deliver effective financial wellbeing to employees, no matter where they are.

Nudge’s free research report offers a deeper look at the challenges the global workforce is facing.

Related topics

In partnership with Nudge

A leading financial wellbeing benefit using behavioural science & technology to help employees.

Contact us today