How can you help employees cope with financial stress? We turned to three experts to find out.
You’re already aware that financial matters cause your employees more stress than any other life stressor combined. But what specifically are they worried about? Understanding the top financial priorities of your workforce will help you choose the right financial wellness benefit. To help you understand what’s top of mind for your employees, we turned to three of our CFP® professionals:
Our experts interact with employees daily and have a finger on the pulse to understand their financial focus. Here are the four most common financial issues they run into:
Between the continued growth of software companies and the recent uptick in skyrocketing valuations, private fundraising rounds, and huge IPOs, it’s no wonder that employees are looking for support around equity compensation. In fact, half of all Origin users reach out to our CFP® professionals for advice on equity-related questions. "We receive a constant stream of questions around equity—whether it's around how to exercise options works or to understand how RSUs work,” says Barta. “We're always there to field a wide range of questions that have a meaningful impact on our clients.”
Origin offers Equity Manager, a suite of tools designed to empower employees to make the most informed and confident decisions possible around their equity compensation. With Equity Manager, employees understand the value of their equity compensation and make strategic decisions that maximize their worth .Here are a few other resources that may be helpful:
According to Blaylock, it’s common for employees to approach CFP® professionals with questions on how to achieve their personal savings goals—whether that’s saving for their first home or simply managing their money in a way that doesn’t force them to live paycheck-to-paycheck. “Probably the most common question that we receive as planners is: ‘What should I be doing with my money?,’” says Blaylock. “Many people we talk with have competing goals, and they usually need help allocating these savings across goals and types of accounts.”
It’s important for employees to manage their money better. That’s why Origin’s Cash Manager provides users with a holistic overview of how much they're spending and saving, along with critical insights about how to optimize cash flow. Origin enables employees to feel more confident about their finances through a deeper understanding of ongoing behavior—allowing them to get one step closer to achieving financial wellness. Read more about it in this post Employees can now manage their cash flow with Origin.
“We’re also fielding a lot of questions about hot investment news around topics like cryptocurrencies and options trading,” says Comella. “We’ve seen investment markets growing pretty steadily since 2008. As a result, investors are euphoric with their investment returns and less risk-averse—and this is causing them to look to alternative investment strategies to further increase their returns.”
Origin educates members about the risks associated with various types of investments and share guidelines to help them understand how much of their investments would be appropriate to subject to this level of risk. CFP® professionals can even help employees develop a tax-efficient plan to sell down risky or concentrated positions in their portfolios over time. Below are other investing-related resources offered:
Taxes are always complex to navigate as an employee. “We get a lot of questions around how to fix W4s if not enough taxes were withheld,” says Barta. “We'll also get questions around what to do with stimulus or tax return money.” But this is a financial topic that has become even more challenging to navigate after the pandemic, which raised new questions around remote work and taxation.
When it comes to supporting employees with their taxes, Origin’s financial experts start with a focus on basic tax education. They then build on this foundation to provide personalized guidance to each client for their particular issue in a way they understand. Check out this resources to help both HR teams and employees navigate taxes:
While every workforce will have a unique set of financial concerns, we hope these insights provide a helpful starting point. If you’re looking for a comprehensive financial wellness platform that can address all the issues we covered in this post, request a demo— we’d love to connect!
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