Financial Wellness & Productivity: Financial Wellness Benefits a Top Priority for HR Leaders in 2022

“The Great Resignation” clarified how financial wellness benefits increasingly matter — a lot — to employees. Employers are listening.

“The Great Resignation” of 2021 has been clarifying, among other things, for HR leaders looking to retain and attract top talent while maximizing employee productivity: financial wellness benefits matter–a lot.

As they look to 2022, 95% of human resources executives say their company’s re-evaluation of their financial benefit package for 2022 is a priority, according to Morgan Stanley at Work’s inaugural State of the Workplace Financial Benefits Study, which “reveals the power that holistic financial benefits, including wellness, can have in recruiting and retaining top talent.”

Employees are paying more attention to financial wellness benefits in 2021, especially Millennials, 69% of whom report being more focused on reviewing them than in years past.

Meanwhile, more than nine in 10 employees (91%) say they’d feel more invested in staying with their employer if offered financial benefits that met their needs.

“Employees are now looking for employers to offer a full spectrum of financial benefits tools, and guidance to help them along the right path financially,” says Brian McDonald, Head of Morgan Stanley at Work. “As a result, those companies that offer a robust benefits package that includes retirement planning, equity compensation, student loan refinancing plans, and overall financial wellness benefits will differentiate themselves in the face of unprecedented competition for great talent.”

The real question then is what kind of financial wellness benefits will best help to achieve that differentiation.

An overwhelming majority of employees (87%) want help with their finances according to the 2021 PwC Employee Wellness Survey, with 51% reporting that they want to make their own decisions with outside expert validation and 36% wanting specific advice on what to do.

The survey goes on to conclude that companies should “[I]mplement a technology solution paired with human interaction and guidance” as one strategy to “foster a culture of financial wellness and support to help your workforce better manage their money during these critical times and in the future…” We couldn’t agree more.