In challenging economic times, it’s important not to ignore the fact that some of your employees might be struggling to manage their money. Whether you employ graduates, highly skilled workers, or full-time employees on the production line, compensating your staff is just part of the process.
It’s always worth knowing how to support financial wellbeing for your team, no matter your industry.
Why is financial wellbeing important?
Strong financial literacy is a key pillar of your employees’ overall wellbeing. It must be integrated into your wider health strategy, as it’s an important aspect of helping your team to manage stress and mental health at work.
Poor financial wellbeing presents issues across multiple areas. It’s not only difficult for your employee to recognise and approach, but it can affect your team’s productivity and therefore the performance of your business too. Financial health is innately linked to overall wellbeing.
How to encourage financial wellbeing for your employees
- Understand multiple challenges
Promoting financial wellbeing is a multifaceted process. Each individual employee will inevitably need a different form of support to help them find ways to improve their financial wellbeing. Unique circumstances cover a wide array of different situations, but these might include:
- Personal debt: It’s possible that your staff could owe thousands to banks, online brokers, student loan providers, or friends.
- Caring responsibilities: If an employee looks after a dependent family member, they might have increased financial burdens.
- Parenting: New parents, or families with multiple young children, might struggle to cope with household expenses even if they claim Child Benefit.
- Relationships: Some staff might be in a relationship with high cost
Being aware of the challenges that your employees might face puts you in a better position to create an effective financial wellbeing strategy.
- Offer financial advice
Offering a financial wellbeing strategy could be hugely beneficial for your team, but only if implemented in the right way. If you employ staff under varying rates of pay, you’ll need to tailor support according to what’s realistic for different members of the team.
From specific pension plans to tailored advice for first-time buyers, there are so many ways to support your employees. No matter their salary, your younger employees might appreciate personalised advice on finding the best ways to improve their credit score, especially if they’re interested in buying their first property.
- Conduct timely pay reviews
This might seem simple, but undertaking regular and realistic salary reviews will benefit both your business and your employees. This vital step not only helps to keep your team members satisfied and in a better position for managing their monthly pay, but it also helps to keep the roles at your organisation competitive and inviting to new talent.
Training and financial benefits packages serve an important role, but they must be backed with genuine financial action from your side. Senior leadership teams should encourage progression and reward hard work.
When you provide a comprehensive support strategy, you can ensure that your employees feel more confident in their personal and professional lives.