How to ease your employees’ financial worries
The COVID-19 pandemic is at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and many employers are focused on keeping their businesses operating. While it may be difficult to think about your employees’ financial future at this time, the reality is that they need your support now more than ever. Even before the pandemic, there has been a connection between financial stress and workplace performance, resulting in decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and higher healthcare costs.
As the virus continues to create business pressures, it is crucial for your workforce to perform at its best. However, it can be difficult for your employees to work effectively if they are concerned about finances. This Pacific Prime UK article discusses ways you can ease your employees’ financial worries.
Ways to help your employees with their financial concerns
Regardless of how the current situation looks, there are still ways that you can help your employees feel more in control of their finances.
Assist them in building a solid base
Employees need to assess the money that is coming in (i.e. their salary) and come up with a budget. As an employer, you can provide budgeting tools as part of your financial wellness programme. If you’ve already got them in place, it’s a good idea to remind your employees that these tools are available and can be used to categorize expenses accordingly. The same goes for any type of debt management support. Offering education on how to create a will and encouraging employees to designate beneficiaries on life insurance and financial accounts can also be beneficial.
Provide them with educational tools
Make sure your employees have access to tools that can help them learn more, such as resources that focus on basic investing and financial planning. Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) can also give employees direct access to financial counselling services. Aside from helping with healthcare issues, EAPs can offer advice on:
- Budgeting
- Debt consolidation
- Retirement savings planning
- And more
You might also want to consider hosting lunches or sessions that focus on financial wellness and aim to assist employees in prioritizing their limited resources. The questions that employees ask during these sessions can also help other employees who are going through something similar. Once the basics are covered, sessions that focus on investing would be the next logical step to help employees reach their goals.
Help them get started with investing
If you’re wondering how to help employees save money, you should think about how to help employees invest instead. After all, savings and financial wellness go hand-in-hand. Many employees make the mistake of thinking that they need to make a certain amount of money to start saving when the reality is that they should always be setting some aside. Fortunately, an employee investment plan can help employees avoid living paycheque to paycheque.
Every investment must have a purpose and be in alignment with employees’ goals and objectives. The time horizon and risk are critical factors when it comes to investment choices, no matter what type of investment a person chooses. The top three ways to help employees invest include cash, fixed income, and equity. Employees with short-term saving goals, such as an emergency fund, should look at lower risk investments than those with longer-term goals like planned retirement.
Offer an employee discount programme
Another way you can help employees hold onto their hard-earned money is to provide negotiated discounts on technology, car and home insurance, local attractions, and so on. Some companies even have voluntary employee purchase programmes in place, which enables employees to purchase educational services and household items through payroll deduction. Financial wellbeing programmes such as these make it easier for employees to take charge of their finances by setting up spending limits.
Use the renewal period to protect your employees
The renewal period is an ideal time to enhance non-health workplace benefits, such as accident insurance, critical illness insurance, and life insurance. If you have a paid family leave policy in place, be sure to emphasise that as well. This will be especially valuable to employees without childcare options who have to return to the office after a long period of working remotely.
Incorporate financial wellbeing into the office
To enhance overall wellbeing, you must go beyond exercise, stress, nutrition and sleep programmes. Financial challenges within your wellbeing programme can help employees go in the right direction. Make sure to provide a clear outline of what they have to do and reward them for their actions. Some examples of financial wellbeing challenges include:
- Packing a healthy meal
- Attending an on-site financial education seminar
- Setting a monthly savings goal
- Starting a debt cleanse
- Learning about the company’s financial benefits via an in-person meeting, webinar, or online resources
Incorporating the methods above is a great way for you to show your employees that you care about their financial wellbeing. Employees who are financially well are also less stressed and more productive, which improves your company’s bottom line as well.
Need help with your employee benefits plan?
If you’re looking to add EAPs to your employee benefits plan in the UK or need to secure an employee benefits plan, you can get in touch with an employee benefits specialist such as Pacific Prime UK. Aside from employee benefits, we are also an insurance broker that can help you secure private health insurance in the UK for individuals, businesses and more. Contact our team of experienced advisors to compare health insurance in the UK and find out how we can help your business today.
Jantra curates and reports on the results of Pacific Prime’s monthly newsletters, as well as manages Pacific Prime’s Deputy Global CEO’s LinkedIn posts. Complemented by her background in business writing, Jantra’s passion for health, insurance, and employee benefits helps her create engaging content - no matter how complex the subject is.
Growing up as a third-culture kid has given her a multicultural perspective that helps her relate to expats and their families while 8 years of working remotely have given her unique insight into hybrid work arrangements and enthusiasm for employee benefits.
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