Finances stress (almost) everyone out. Even your employees! If you’re a business owner trying to think of ways to differentiate your offer from other competitors, and to truly show support to your team, look no further than offering a financial wellness program as part of your employee benefits package. Financial wellness programs can help with employee recruitment, retention, engagement, and productivity. Here’s why:
- 7 out of 10 employees say that high inflation and market volatility has significantly increased their financial stress.
- Lack of financial well-being can increase employees’ stress and on-the-job distractions.
- Employees are 6x more likely to say money concerns have severely impacted their productivity at work, 2x more likely to be looking for another job, 7x more likely to say it’s affected their attendance, and 13% less likely to feel valued at work.
What should a Financial Wellness Program include?
- According to a 2017 Prudential Employer Survey, the most common Financial Wellness Programs contain:
- Digital portal through which all tools and content can be accessed;
- Tools and calculators to help employees gauge their financial wellness;
- Retiree planning;
- Access to financial advice and/or advisors – coaching on budgeting, paying down debt and building an emergency fund.
- Other recommended financial wellness elements can include employee discount programs, student loan repayment subsidies, emergency savings accounts, and earned wage advances.
How do I know if these are the employee benefits my team wants? How do I know if it works?
- Engage:
- Listen to employees’ attitudes about financial health and personalize financial resources to their needs;
- Offer incentives (points towards cash incentives, discounted health insurance premiums) for participation in your Financial Wellness Program.
- Communicate:
- Embed financial wellness into your organization’s values;
- Spread the word on resources: internal newsletters, staff meetings, orientations, and annual/quarterly reviews.
- Measure success:
- Increased employee satisfaction (financial well-being survey, employee feedback);
- Increased employee productivity;
- Increased retirement plan participation;
- Number of program participants.
Who can help me make this happen?
Chelsea Groton Bank offers a Financial Wellness Program for business customers’ employees that comprises complimentary, customized financial classes as well as access to Chelsea University, an online financial wellness platform for individuals and businesses.
- In addition to courses offered to the general public (all available to register for at no charge on our website), Chelsea Groton can deliver classes exclusively for your employees in-person at your business or at any Chelsea Groton Bank branch, virtually, or as a hybrid. The Bank can also offer a playback recording of the classes for anyone unable to attend the live session.
- We can also offer follow-up financial coaching in our branches or over the phone/Zoom.
Interested in learning more about onboarding these employee benefits at your business?
Contact Chelsea Groton Bank’s Alexis Kahn, FVP, Cash Management Sales Manager, or Miria Gray, AS, Community Education Officer, to talk about how we could customize our financial wellness program to fit your needs.
Sources
- 6 Ways to Measure the Success of Financial Wellness Efforts: Society for Human Resources Management
- Financial Wellness: Make It an Organizational Priority: Society for Human Resources Management
- Tips for retaining workers in a still-tight labor market: Hartford Business Journal
- 2022 PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey: PwC
- Designing your employee financial wellness program – Workplace Insight
- Six steps for launching a financial wellness program | Mission Money
