How The Lack Of Financial Wellness Impacts Your Company
A PricewaterhouseCooper Survey conducted in 2017 found that ‘30% of employees are distracted by their finances at work and 46% of the distracted employees say they spend three hours or more at work each week dealing with issues related to their personal finances’
This equates to close to $16,500 per year in losses for every 50 employees hired by your company.
The study also concluded that ‘not having enough emergency savings is a top financial concern that crosses income levels and generations.’ Alerting employers to the fact that having the occasional lunch and learn about retirement planning is no longer enough.
The statistics surrounding financial stress and its impact on the workplace are alarming. As the cost of living in major centers increases the number of workers being impacted is expected to get worse.
When your employees are experiencing financial stress and don’t have access to financial services or financial literacy this can have a significant impact on your business’s bottom line as your employees’ wellness, productivity, engagement, and loyalty to your company all suffer.
Companies without financial wellness programs are losing an estimated $16,500 per year for every 50 employees.
3 Ways To Improve Your Team’s Financial Wellness
“83% of HR Professionals reported that personal financial challenges had a large impact or some impact on overall employee performance.” Study Conducted by SHRM
Improving your team’s financial wellness can greatly benefit your bottom line. Determining which route to take within your organization will require an assessment of your employees’ needs, financial literacy level, and financial concerns. Here are three common ways to help elevate your employees’ financial wellness.
- Hire A Training Company
One way to address the growing financial wellness crisis in your workplace is to provide in-house workshops, one-on-one consultations, and lunch and learns for your employees.
There are many private organizations that offer extensive financial literacy training for employees. The cost of these services varies greatly with the average hourly rate being $257/hour according to the Financial Educators Council.
Most trainers will create packages for your organization with the price depending on the type of training you would like to provide, the ongoing nature of the relationship, the level of customization required, and the qualifications of the trainer.
While a fantastic option that is well worth the investment providing in-house training can prove challenging for some organizations due to the cost, their employee’s availability, and expansion/turnover rates.
Pros: Customizable, engaging, and effective
Cons: High cost, requires additional solutions for implementation
2) Provide Access Online Resources
An alternative to providing in-house training solutions if cost and availability are a challenge is to provide access to online resources.
Online programs cost an average of $10-$20 per employee and for best results, it’s recommended that employers incentivize employees to complete the program and offer additional access to Financial Counsellors for those who need more hands-on support.
When choosing an online program remember to assess your employees’ digital access. There is no point providing access to a desktop program if your employees don’t own computers.
Pros: Efficient, flexible
Cons: Needs to be incentivized by the company, requires additional solutions for implementation, requires access to technology.
3) Implement A Full-Service Financial Solution
While hiring in house trainers and financial counselors is highly effective and a big step forward in improving your team’s financial wellness and your organization’s bottom line, without access to affordable financial services your staff won’t be able to implement many of the lessons learned during these pieces of training.
One solution that can be rolled out with ease to new and existing employees that provides access to incentivized financial literacy programs coupled with low-cost financial solutions is Uulala App.
Uulala App provides a mass payout solution to employers that is linked to an application that provides employees with:
- Consistent, reliable, accessible pay.
- Digital accounts for the unbanked
- Low-cost bill payments
- Rapid, inexpensive peer-to-peer international transfers and remittances
- International payout for a global salesforce
- Credit-building and access to microcredit
- Incentivized Financial education
Paying workers and contractors through Uulala’s digital financial platform is a simple yet very effective way to improve an organization’s value as a potential employer as well as improving your employees’ overall financial wellness.
The Apps financial literacy programs are based on the frameworks of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and are directly tied to the applications micro-credit offers. The more programs the user completes the more access to the credit they obtain.
Pros: Low cost, incentivized solution, one-stop-shop for payouts, education, and consumer financial services, easy to implement on an ongoing basis
Cons: Does not include one-on-one counseling, requires a smartphone
Visit Uulala.io To Learn More
