Employers are looking to add new employee benefits, like flexible schedules, covered tech expenses, and even paid gym memberships. All of these support the mental and physical wellness of employees, but the question often asked is, “What about financial wellness?”With today’s inflation rate and assets plummeting in value, it seems only logical that a question like this would arise. So, as an employer, how do you promote financial wellness among your employees?
What is Financial Wellness?
Employee financial wellness is a general term for programs and benefits that aim to alleviate employees’ financial problems, such as paying off student loans, lack of retirement funding, etc. Nowadays, it’s pretty common for employees to be buried in debt and other financial problems, so much so that it affects their productivity at work. Financial wellness helps educate and guide employees to financial success. It’s a holistic approach rooted in financial literacy that further evolved into a more personalized and customizable guide that your employees can use for financial freedom. However, what can you, as an employer, do to help your employees with this financial freedom?
Ask Your Employees About Their Needs and Interests
One of the first things you should do is to talk to your employees and ask about their financial needs and interests. As a good first step, you can propose a financial wellness program and get an in-depth idea of what your employees want regarding finances. You can also send out surveys and questionnaires and even have discussions with them in an open forum so you can delve into what kind of benefits or programs your employees want. Do your employees need help with retirement? Are they struggling with student loans? Are they looking to invest? Or are they looking for affordable, alternative borrowing options similar to Dave loans? These are just some examples of their financial needs and interests.
Improve Employee Financial Literacy
Unfortunately, people nowadays aren’t literate when it comes to finances. A study found that only a third of adults in the US could answer 4 out of 5 financial literacy questions on basic concepts like lending, interest rates, mortgages, etc. As an employer, you must have a program promoting financial literacy among your employees. You can hold workshops that discuss topics like how to do your taxes and get loans, find the right mortgage, etc. You can also provide them with tools and other resources that can help them study financing.
Offer Them a 401(K) Plan
Nowadays, more and more companies are holding out on retirement plans for their employees. Why not set yourself apart from the pack by offering your employees retirement plans like 401k? Ensure that your employees know the advantages of a 401k. You will also need to educate them on how it works by discussing the tax advantages, accumulated funds, etc.
Consider a Meritocracy
The best way for your employees to match your zeal with your financial objective is through merit-based pay, which includes bonuses, promotions, perks, salary increases, etc. That way, you motivate your employees to work to their full potential.
Make Your Employees Aware of the Benefits
Ensure Your employees know about the company’s benefits. It can also help to increase productivity and motivation as employees have a goal to work towards other than the company goals.
Get Your Employees Engaged Early
From the moment you start to onboard your employees, it’s important that they know and understand how to grow financially in your company. This way, they are familiar with the benefits from early on and know and understand what is available to them in the future. It promotes financial wellness early and leads to increased productivity and motivation.
Final Words
Choosing the right programs and benefits can promote employee financial wellness in your company. With financial literacy at an all-time low, it’s a huge possibility that many of your employees have little to no knowledge about finances. With that in mind, not only do you need to pick the right programs and benefits, but you also need to raise their financial literacy, which in turn could lead to financial wellness in the long term.
