The idea of cultivating employee financial wellness has quickly become a top priority for many global organizations as industries continue to learn more about how the concept can benefit both businesses and the workforce by which they are supported.
As the business case for employee financial wellness continues to develop, HR leaders are prompted to construct actionable programming that can help workers to reach a state of monetary confidence and security. Let’s talk about how you can make that happen for your company.
From an organizational perspective, a financial wellness plan is a series of activities, exercises, resources, and benefits which work to help staff within a company achieve a sense of personal financial wellbeing. Extending beyond their component programs, financial wellness plans typically involve a time-based strategy, where participants are ushered towards an end-goal which they initially work to set with a manager or financial counselor.
Organizations implementing a financial wellness plan may also set broad objectives for sum workforce financial wellbeing. Doing so can be useful in constructing program metrics which allow for better tracking and analytics, such as ROI.
The practical implements which you include in your financial wellness plan will ultimately depend on the needs of your business and employee base. In all cases, however, organizations should expect to offer an amalgamation of resources which offer both direct support to employees, as well as a means for employees to learn more and in doing so support themselves.
These components may look like:
Your unique business needs and workforce makeup will dictate what you can and should offer in your financial wellness plan. There are a few universal steps you can take however which will allow you to build the foundations of a strong strategy for employee financial wellbeing.
Step 1: Identify your metrics. The effects of employee financial stress can be felt in a number of ways across all levels of an organization. And the mitigation of those pain points will allow you to track the successes and growth opportunities of your plan once it’s been set in motion. Problems like turnover, absenteeism, and reduced productivity – when they are caused by financial stress – and their reduction via a comprehensive financial wellness plan will let you know it’s working.
Step 2: Assess organizational ability. Of course business factors like budget and resource allocation will need to be taken into account. It is important to have an idea of what you can reasonably and accessibly offer to the greatest benefit of your workforce before you start to shop for your program. Weighing workforce capacity against the cost of your proposed solutions will also prove critical in soliciting executive endorsement.
Step 3: Assess employee needs. This programming will ultimately be for the advantage of your workforce, and it’s important to provide programming with which they will actually engage. Consider polling your people to see what their most pressing financial concerns are, money-related goals and dreams, as well as what resources they would most like to see included in your financial wellness plan.
Step 4: Assemble your toolkit. Understanding what you can realistically offer, and what your employees need to achieve financial wellness, should give you insight into the critical tools and resources you should be including in your program. Now is the time to do your shopping in earnest and partner with a solution that best matches your needs, as well as your budget.
Step 5: Engage your workforce. Once your plan is in place, you need to make sure your employees know how to use it. For current employees, have a mandatory seminar or two that orients workers to the benefits and tools now at their disposal. New employees should be similarly introduced to your financial wellness resources at onboarding.
And don’t cut off communication with your workforce after the first assessment. Maximizing your organization’s ROI on financial wellness planning means keeping engagement up and making sure employees are getting what they need out of the resources you have on offer. Send out regular surveys which ask employees how they’re engaging, and if and where they are experiencing changes prompted by your plan.
So what does a financial wellness plan look like once it’s completed? Let’s take a look.
An organization has chosen to take a personalized approach to individual employee financial wellness using broad programming which can be accessed on a voluntary basis by the interested party. This involves an onboarding period and includes educational resources as well as tooling that helps employees work towards their personal financial goals, with suggestions from the organization.
Employees work with a financial counselor in the beginning to assess with guidance their current state of financial wellbeing. At this stage they also set financial goals, such as retirement date and monthly savings objectives, which are calculated based on the worker’s current income and daily expenses.
Employees are provided with accessible tools, including a financial wellness calculator, debt management dashboard, and consolidated income dashboard to help them keep a close eye on all their finances in one place.
Employees are also given continued access to financial wellness counselors, as well as self-guided educational resources which help to build financial literacy and empower workers to better manage their finances on their own. All of this is of course founded on cost-of-living adjusted wages and other accessible benefits such as affordable healthcare.
All of these resources in tandem work to build financial wellness for your employee base. And this is what Origin offers.
Origin is a comprehensive financial wellness platform that takes a holistic approach to workforce finances so they can reduce money-related stress and grow their assets sustainably and securely.
Origin employs a combination of self-directed tooling and access to financial professionals to ensure maximized financial literacy for your workforce. Sign up for a demo today to see how Origin can work for you.
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