Financial wellness is an aspect of employee wellness that’s often forgotten. It’s important that employees feel healthy financially for many of the same reasons they should feel healthy physically.
To get started, let’s take a look at what financial wellness means. For an employee, financial wellness includes:
- Minimal feelings of financial stress
- A strong financial foundation (little or no debt, emergency savings and living below their means)
- A plan to follow to meet future financial goals
This type of security can have benefits for the employees and employer alike. From an employee perspective, financial wellness is clearly a good thing. They’ll be worried less, and therefore stress less. This lower stress level can lead to decreased illness, increased productivity, higher satisfaction and more engagement with the work they do.
Obviously employers can also benefit from this type of improved workforce. They also might experience decreased turnover, lower healthcare costs (because their employees stress less and are healthier), and decreased absenteeism.
Sounds like a no brainer right?
Building a financial wellness program can integrate nicely with your employee wellness program because they both have similar end goals: improve your employees well-being. To build a true financial wellness program, keep these things in mind.
Use an unbiased financial education company
This type of company is focused on changing employees’ financial habits and behaviors, which will help them make better decisions and form strong financial plans. Finances are a sensitive subject, and can get confusing when tied directly to the employer. That’s why it’s helpful to bring in a third party expert.
Be holistic and comprehensive
It’s very important to cover all aspects of financial planning from debt issues to wealth protection. It should also relate to the employee benefits your company offers. This way, all employees—not just a specific demographic—are learning and improving from the financial wellness program.
Focus on Employees
With any type of wellness program, it’s important to personalize it to your workforce. Provide guidance and education based on your employees needs. Get their feedback about the program from beginning to end, so you know exactly what they find useful because really…it’s all about them!
Make it a process
Financial wellness—like physical wellness—is not simply one event. You wouldn’t expect your employees to walk to work once and have their physical health in tip-top shape. The same goes with financial wellness. Focus on a continued effort to help your employees become happier and healthier in all aspects of life.
In the end, it’s important to remember that employee wellness includes financial wellness. When your workforce is constantly stressed about managing their money, they aren’t going to work as healthy employees should. Try to build a financial aspect into your employee wellness program, and be sure to include these four points to have the most impact.
How do you help your employees overcome financial worry?
