Take Responsibility For Your Employees’ Financial Stress
It’s not news that money-related issues not only impact what happens at home but also the attitude and productivity that your employees bring to work. It’s a ripple effect that has an impact on employers from a variety of angles: employee absenteeism, job performance and ability to focus. These issues of employee financial stress impact the overall performance of the company.
Year after year, PWCs financial study reports that more than 54% of workers are stressed about their finances. Millennials are even more impacted at 65%.
Who’s to blame for employee’s lack of financial literacy skills and knowledge?
Unfortunately, our school systems don’t have a requirement for students to complete basic personal finance classes. This is setting young adults up for financial failure as they enter the workforce.
Equally nerve-racking is that money-related conversations are treated as taboo in most social circles. This means that not only are Americans not receiving financial education, they’re pushed to figure out their money problems on their own. Asking for help is frowned on and the pressure people feel to “have it all together” can be suffocating. The lack of structured resources and support community creates even more stress.
I graduated from a 4-year university with a finance degree without having a requirement to take a single personal finance management class! Go figure.
The financial issues that most employees face have to do with managing basic money skills such as:
- Having spending plan in place
- Securing emergency fund for rainy day
- Managing debt properly
- Saving for retirement
- Establishing financial goals
Enough talking about how bad things are. It’s time to start focusing on what can be done. since most employees spend more than 1/3 of their day at work, it becomes an employer’s responsibility to help provide them with the resources they need to succeed.
So, how can you help?
- Provide educational resources – Company-wide training courses, online webinars on various financial topics, lunch-and-learns, and workshops can create financial confidence.
- Create a support community – Help employees support each other: offer contests to showcase their “money” knowledge, keep them accountable to their financial goals, help them develop positive money habits, and offer resources to get one-on-one support from certified financial planners, debt counselors, financial coaches.
- Institute a formal financial wellness program – This can be a cost-effective way to impact a mass number of employees where an employer can measure in real-time how your employees are improving. Include tools such as online portals to allow them to track their financial progress. Provide a way for employees to get quality professional advice and connect them with certified financial planners.
All of these offerings exist today, but what works the best is when they are combined together to truly provide a well-rounded financial wellness offering which will help to create a positive impact for employees in every level of their lives.
