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ALL SUCCESSFUL businesses care about the wellbeing of their employees. Look after them and they’ll look after your customers, as the saying goes.
Most firms these days are aware of the importance of physical wellbeing, and often promote things like healthy eating and cycle to work schemes.
Many firms are also doing great things to support the mental wellbeing of their teams, with awareness having increased substantially in the last ten years or so.
However, one of the key challenges that businesses are facing right now is understanding what they can do to help their teams achieve financial wellbeing.
In a recent survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 70% of respondents cited the cost-of-living crisis as one of their biggest challenges for 2023.
Ask many business leaders about what they’re doing to support employees’ financial wellbeing and they’ll mention things like making salary advances available or laying on a ‘lunch and learn’ budgeting workshop.
These things certainly have their place, but against the backdrop of double-digit inflation and soaring energy bills, employers are wondering what more they can do to prioritise financial wellbeing for their teams.
There are three key strands behind a successful financial wellbeing approach.
ENCOURAGING STAFF TO SAVE
One of the keys to enabling staff to achieve financial resilience is helping them to build a regular savings habit. Figures suggest that one in six adults in the UK have no savings at all, while a quarter have less than £100 put away.
It is recommended that everyone should aim to have three months’ worth of expenses saved. Helping teams to save for rainy days and unexpected bills is therefore vital – boosting their capability to cope with spikes in their expenses.
ENABLING STAFF TO BORROW
Unless they are extremely fortunate, most people will need to borrow at some point in their lives. So, enabling them to do so safely and affordably is vital.
Often people find themselves excluded from the financial mainstream, due to having an impaired credit rating. Many more only need to borrow a few hundred pounds to replace an essential household item – not the thousands that the banks want to lend. Faced with a borrowing need, many end up resorting to high-cost sources of credit or, even worse, loan sharks.
Providing access to affordable credit is therefore key – avoiding the risk of employees falling into a debt spiral
HELPING STAFF TO MAKE INFORMED FINANCIAL DECISIONS
The third strand of employee financial wellbeing is providing them with the information and tools to help them make the right financial choices.
There are numerous resources online that can help with this – including Commsave’s CURight website www.curight.co.uk an online wellbeing portal designed to help members better understand their finances.
To find out more about how Commsave can support your team with their financial wellbeing, get in touch on 0303 0402 660 or visit www.commsave.co.uk/partners.
