Financial wellbeing is all about feeling secure about your finances. Employees who have money worries are more likely to be stressed and this can impact their mood and productivity at work.
Financial instability has also been linked to physical complaints, which coupled with the mental strain can lead to sickness absence and general low morale in your workplace. That's why it's a great idea to promote financial wellbeing in your organisation, and it's perfectly doable on a small budget.
As employers, we all want to treat our employees well, but we can't all afford to offer pay rises to every employee that is struggling. The aim of financial wellbeing campaigns is to educate your employees about how to make the most of the money they do earn.
It's estimated around 50% of employees borrow money regularly to meet their basic household needs. Luckily, there are lots of ways to make personal finances go further, and free and low cost tools to help.
Financial wellbeing on a small budget
Remind your employees of any company benefits that might help them financially
What do you already have in place.... Is it a great pension? Do you offer small low/no interest loans? Free eye tests for DSE users? Childcare vouchers?
It's great having these benefits, but no good if your employees don't know about it. Send an email round or pop a list on a noticeboard - whatever works for your organisation - and let them know how to access these benefits.
Signpost via posters, emails, flyers, banners, intranet
You might not be experts in finance, and that's ok. There are so many reputable organisations that can help your employees manage their money, you just need to point them out.
Let your employees know who they are using low/no cost methods like emails and flyers. You could set up a section on your intranet dedicated to financial wellbeing with a list of resources and external organisations for employees to access.
Be careful to only signpost to reputable sources - links to payday loan lenders might not be a good idea!
Ask around and see what's available locally
Maybe your pension provider would come and do a lunchtime talk for your team. Or your local bank might come and do a seminar on mortgages or savings. See what's on your doorstep - many people are happy to help, they just need to be asked.
Give time, not money
If your budget is small, give your employees time instead. Let them take a free online personal finance course during work hours, or an afternoon off to spend getting their finances in order.
Keep an eye out for free webinars and encourage your employees to take an hour out to take part.
The downtime could pay off in the long run when your employees feel more financially secure and more able to concentrate at work.
Plan a financial wellbeing month to make key messages stick
A one off email might make a difference to someone, but to really make an impact a message needs repeating. Especially at work, our minds are often so busy with other things that it's easy to read an email and forget it 10 minutes later, or glance at a poster and not notice what it says.
By making a big deal of financial wellbeing, and repeating key messages over a period of time, the messages are more likely to make an impact.
Your campaign doesn't have to be huge. It could be an email once a week, plus a few strategically placed posters and a flyer on everyone's desk. If you can spare the time, let them take a free course during the month. Buy your team lunch at the end of the month and encourage people to discuss what they've learned if they feel comfortable doing so.
Educate and upskill so you can afford to pay your employees more
Thinking outside the box - if all your employees were highly skilled and productive, you'd be able to bring in more business, yes? Help them long term by identifying their strengths, and building on these to help them and your busines become better and brighter.
Internal training, free online courses or external training could all help them rise through the ranks of your business and command a higher pay cheque whilst giving you the skills needed within your team to drive your business forward.
Free financial wellbeing resources
Money Helper has extensive, reliable information on topics from debts to mortgages, budgeting and insurance to name just a few. People over 50 can also make an appointment to get free advice about their options regarding their pension.
PayPlan provides free, confidential online debt advice and free debt management plans.
Free financial wellbeing tools
There are a wealth of free tools available online to help individuals get control of and understand their finances. Here are a few of our favourites from Money Helper:
Free personal finance courses
Free online courses are abundant these days. Here are our favourite personal finance courses: Managing my Money 24 hours study. You and your money 12 hours study.