It is impossible to overstate the importance of financial wellness in the workplace. According to a 2017 survey from Mercer, employers can lose up to $250 billion a year due to employees’ stress about their finances. The survey found that there is a real risk when workers spend time worrying about their finances. At any given time, approximately five percent of organization’s total payroll is at risk.
If you let it, financial stress can dominate your workforce, and therefore, your company’s bottom line. Fortunately, there are ways to counter financial stress. One of the best methods is to implement a financial wellness program.
Implementing a financial wellness program is important for three primary reasons:
- It tells employees that you care about seeing them financially secure;
- It provides employees the financial know-how they need to stretch their pay as much as possible, particularly during financially strained times when companies often can’t afford to give salary increments;
- When finances are strained, employee productivity can suffer. It is therefore in your company’s best interest to help employees manage their money wisely.
Financial Wellness Program should provide financial education for every stage of life, from personal budgeting to family budgeting to retirement planning. A typical financial wellness program is designed to help employees learn how to stretch their salary. Specific topics could include budgeting, debt management, setting financial goals, saving, credit counseling, understanding financial services, making full use of employee benefits, and so on.
It should also help your employees understand how your company can help them financially beyond providing a regular paycheck. The program should offer an avenue for educating employees about how to access these benefits.
These programs help to improve your staff’s financial education and create a long-term plan to reach future financial goals. Educating and planning for the future, work together to lessen individual’s financial stress.
Workplace financial wellness programs are most successful when the employer identifies the unique concerns of the workforce and tailors the message to fit that audience. Offering a variety of topics and access points increase opportunities for participation, ultimately leading to success. It means fewer employees reporting financial distress, calling in sick, being distracted and compromising on working with customers and colleagues. And that, ultimately, means a more productive environment.