Why Start an Employee Financial Wellness Program?

When considering what kinds of employee benefits to offer, you may not have immediately thought of financial wellness programs. Yet, these are among the most popular, high-engagement programs that employees benefit from in the business world.

​But how will focusing on bolstering your workforce's financial wellness skills benefit your company? How will it give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace and boost your bottom line?

Here are some answers to those pressing questions:

1. Diminishing Worker Distraction
More focused workers are more productive workers; yet, people constantly living on the edge financially are much more likely to be distracted at work than those who are "financially well."

Just put yourself in your employees' shoes for a minute. If you are unsure how you'll pay the rent, make the car payment on time, and buy groceries and utilities this month, how hard would it be to not think much about all that for eight hours of the day?

Even the best employees can get distracted when their life feels like being in a financial vice-grip. Such employees will welcome a work-based financial wellness program, benefit from it, and then benefit your company.

2. Greater Employee Predictability
Uncertainty is the enemy of good business planning, and that doesn't only apply to the economy at large. It also finds an application in having a predictably present, on-time workforce.

When financial problems force employees to take off work, that impacts your ability to schedule and meet deadlines and quotas. When employees are late because they had to do emergency deposits in their bank, get arrested because they got caught without car insurance they couldn't afford, or are dealing with health emergencies that could have been avoided had they managed resources better for preventative care and health insurance, your business processes suffer.

And too many no-shows, late-shows, and days off (even if asked for), and you may have to let employees go. But a financial wellness program might have prevented all that - which would lower your turnover rates (and it's much cheaper to keep a good employee than to find and train a new one.)

3. Boosted Employee Satisfaction
Financial wellness programs are in high demand. Why? Because of the financial instability that runs rife in our modern world. There are too many unpredictable factors, and one misstep can often have huge, long-term negative consequences.

It's true that financial advice abounds, and a lot of it is reasonably sound and easy to access. But if you take financial wellness to a deeper level, you will have a benefit to offer your employees that they can't easily find elsewhere (and certainly not for free.)

Thus, financial wellness programs are a relatively inexpensive benefit for a business to afford but still pack a big punch when it comes to competing for and retaining top talent.

4. Increased Employee Engagement
Finally, a well developed financial wellness program will tend to increase employee engagement in all of your other offered employee benefits.

The reason is clear: employees who are learning to manage their money better will also be interested in things like health insurance, life insurance, pension programs, and other elements of your employee benefits package.

Get employees engaged in their own financial well being, and they will be more focused, predictable, productive, satisfied, and engaged.

To learn more about how financial wellness programs can benefit your business, contact Summerlin Benefits Consulting today!