Financial Wellness at the Workplace – How to Do It?

Financial Wellness Programs

Financial wellness programs have now become more crucial than ever. A  joint study by SHRM and Morgan
Stanley at Work showed 23% of working males and 35% of female workers faced some kind of financial trouble
since the pandemic started. Many other studies show that financial stress has become a key reason for
employee anxiety, affecting their health and well-being. Also, it affects their productivity and healthcare costs.

A study reported that implementing the right financial wellness programs can be very helpful to employees and
employers in many ways.

• Employee turnover number reduced by 1%
• 46% of Millennials and 44% of Gen X working groups said they were more likely to be loyal to a company
  that cared about their financial wellbeing
• Absenteeism rates were reduced by 24.6%
• Overall $271.50 was saved per employee towards healthcare costs.

How can employers prioritize financial health at the workplace?

Thanks to all its multiple benefits, employers are now prioritizing financial wellness at the workplace. Here are
5 steps for employers to develop and implement the best-fitting financial wellness program for their workplace.

Step 1 – Know Your Workforce’s Financial Wellbeing Needs

Financial well-being can mean different things to different people. Often, individuals who suffer from poor
financial health usually do not get the needed support from workplace benefits. Employers must start by
identifying specific financial health and well-being needs. Understanding the specific well-being requirements
of employees can help in designing financial wellness programs with the best-suited modules and tools.

Step 2 – Build a Positive Workplace Culture

While identifying the specific health and well-being needs of employees is a crucial step, it can be difficult to
know if employees do not open up about it. Most times, employees hesitate to talk about their financial
difficulties since they feel it can discriminate against them in the workplace. Also, a feeling of shame and
embarrassment stops them from opening up about their issues. Employers must establish a positive workplace
culture that does not allow space for such discrimination or taboos. The workforce must be encouraged to
discuss their issues with the management or HR teams without worrying about the consequences.

Step 3 – Focus on the Progress

Although it may seem daunting to start any employee wellness program, it is vital to implement it to improve
the financial health and overall well-being of the workforce. Most companies with effective financial wellness
programs started by having open discussions about money matters with their employees. These insights were
considered to build and expand the well-being program. With each new discussion, survey, or poll, employers
will find new ideas and needs, which they can use to build momentum. So, employers and wellness coordinators
must focus more on the progress and expand the employee wellness solutions accordingly, and not just expect
perfection in the first go.

Step 4 – Create Comprehensive Communication Plans

Despite offering expensive incentives and trending workplace benefits, most employee wellness programs fail
since the workforce is not communicated well about it. If the workforce does not know what the wellbeing
program offers or its benefits, the anticipated employee engagement or ROI will not be achieved. A successful
employee wellness program must have a comprehensive communication plan across multiple channels to
ensure every message reaches the entire workforce. An effective communication plan in action can
ensure high employee engagement and success.

Step 5 – Measure the Impact

Most employee wellness programs are long-term processes, and the impact reflects after a long period.
Similarly, it takes time to improve the financial health of the entire workforce. It is difficult to understand the
impact and benefits of the well-being program if it is not measured. So, using the right metrics to measure the
impact of the well-being program is a crucial step.

Since employee engagement can help understand the success of corporate wellness programs, employers
can start measuring the impact of the programs with the right engagement metrics like studying the
participation rates, retention rates, turnover rates, absenteeism, etc. Employers must understand the best-suited metrics that are aligned with their business goals, and measure them at regular intervals to understand the
impact of the financial wellness programs.

ROI of Financial Wellbeing

The most common reasons for financial stress are – rising healthcare costs, high debts, and insufficient or no
emergency savings. Most of these issues can be resolved with the right financial programs, thus reducing overall
stress. The right modules of employee wellness programs can help the workforce achieve their holistic
health and well-being goals. And the ROI can be easily measured in the long run as reduced healthcare costs,
higher engagement, lower turnover rates, and more importantly, happier and healthier employees.

About Author

This article is written by Rekha Reddipalli. She is a senior content writer at Wellness360.co.