Financial Wellbeing Policy

Croner is committed to supporting our employees with their financial wellbeing. We recognise that worries and concerns about personal finances can have a significant detrimental impact on employees’ physical and mental health, as well as their ability to do their job

As an employer, it’s important that you take into account the current cost-of-living crisis and support your employees’ financial wellbeing in the same way.

Take a look at our free download to learn more, or speak to one of our experts today.

 

What is financial wellbeing?

You may have come across the concept of financial wellbeing before. At its core, it’s about promoting a good relationship with money for your employees and helping them to feel financially secure.

Employees who are worrying about their financial wellbeing are more likely to have money worries and stresses when it comes to dealing with their everyday finances. This can have an impact on their performance and could even lead to out-of-character misconduct.

Why is financial wellbeing important?

Financial wellbeing is important and should be something that employers consider when you are putting together or improving your wellbeing policies.

Financial wellbeing can be closely linked to a person's mental health. If your employees are going through financial worries it can have a knock-on effect, impacting your overall business performance.

If one of your employees is suffering from a negative impact on their mental health, it could affect their ability to perform. Employers could easily fall into the trap of starting disciplinary action for poor performance when, in fact, support and education would be a better approach.

 

How does financial wellbeing benefit businesses and employers?

Creating an environment where it's normal to have conversations about money worries will help break down any associated stigmas. Ultimately this workspace will make it more comfortable for employees to talk to their employers about their concerns.

Financial wellbeing in the workplace will have multiple benefits for your employees, including,

• Your employee's health and wellbeing will improve.
• Employees gain skills in money management to help them accommodate unexpected expenses.
• Improved physical health.

Improved employee financial wellbeing will also benefit your business, such as;

• A higher level of productivity
• An open workplace where employees feel comfortable talking to you about their worries.
• More engaged staff.
• Better long-term retention of staff.

Developing a financial wellbeing policy

It can be difficult to know where to start when you’re putting together your employee financial wellbeing policy. We’ve put together a template to help, and suggested some of the aspects you could include.

When you’re developing an employee financial wellbeing policy you can follow five steps.

 

Step 1: Build support and set strategic direction

In step one, you should start speaking to the various stakeholders within your business to find out how you can better meet the needs of your employees regarding wellbeing strategies.

At this stage, you should ensure that your team leaders are on board and create an environment within the team that is open when talking about money issues and then support their views with actions.

 

Step 2: Assess the employee's needs

When you are developing your policy, consider what it is that meets your employee's needs and what will have the biggest impact on them, for example utilising a money and pension service.

At this stage, you should be talking with your employees and finding out what will benefit them the most, instead of making assumptions.

By assessing your employee's needs, you can identify gaps in support and groups that are more at risk.

 

Step 3: Actions

At this stage, you should be considering possible options for your policy. They can vary depending on:

• Your company size and sector.
• The needs of your workplace.
• The level of priority and the resources available.
• Your organisation's existing approach to financial wellbeing.

Depending on what your needs are, you may find it easier to implement interventions that will help certain groups of employees. our lowest-paid employees, for example, might be an area that you want to focus on in the cost of living crisis.

You might not be able to offer them a pay rise or a one-off cost of living bonus, but you may be able to help them identify if they qualify for government support.

 

Step 4: Implement and embed

Communication is key here, let your team leaders know what you are implementing into your business to help your employees. This will help them tell your employees what your company is offering.

You could also consider utilising different channels to talk to your employees, such as notice boards, emails, and intranet notifications. This will help you reach the largest audience, and ensure your teams know about the support available.

 

Step 5: Evaluate and evolve

The final stage is to evaluate and evolve your offerings. Here you will look at what it is you offer and see if it meets the needs of your employees. For example, is a particular service getting used more than others? Or is one not being used at all?

If you find this happening, you can adapt and evolve your offerings to ensure that they are still supporting your employees.

 

Download a workplace financial wellbeing policy

The purpose of this policy is to assist with creating an open and supportive workplace. Where managers and employees can discuss any issues associated with financial wellbeing, and ensure the available resources are known about and offered to employees when needed.

Croner has a team of award-winning HR Consultants who are specialists in their field. We’ve been helping businesses for over 80 years and our advice line is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Why not speak to a Croner expert on 0800 470 2726.