Making financial wellbeing fit for the future.

Jonathan Watts-Lay, Director, WEALTH at work joins REBA in a video interview to give his insight on our newly released Financial wellbeing research 2022. Additionally, please see his thoughts on the research findings in the article below.

Whilst acknowledging that financial wellbeing is still somewhat in its infancy and lags behind other wellbeing pillars such as physical and mental health, the majority of employers surveyed recognise it as a key driver in improving wider employee wellbeing. Along with this, employers also link it to other HR objectives such as increasing engagement levels, aiding with recruitment and retention, as well as creating equity and fairness across the organisation.

The research found that employee demand is currently driving any financial wellbeing products and services offered. However, the focus of support tends to be around pensions and retirement, with other elements of financial wellbeing neglected. For example, employers tended to rate provision around managing debt, tax planning, building a financial safety net and budgeting, and money management as poor. With the cost of living crisis showing no signs of abating, many employers may need to re-think their approach if they are to provide genuine support and solutions for improving employee wellbeing.

The report also identified that one of the major concerns and a main barrier to improving future financial wellbeing is poor financial literacy. Encouragingly, 70% of employers say increasing financial capability is a priority in the next couple of years. This perhaps explains why financial education (34%) and financial coaching (26%) are set to see significant growth in the next two years.

Helping employees to understand the key financial issues that relate to them is an effective way of overcoming the risks of poor financial literacy. This is because when employees feel in control of their finances, their overall wellbeing is greatly improved.

This means looking beyond offering isolated and disjointed products that serve short-term needs as the solution, and instead creating a cohesive strategy that aligns with HR and corporate strategy. Many leading employers are now integrating holistic and proactive financial wellbeing programmes that include financial education, guidance and regulated financial advice, to help employees build their financial resilience for now and the future.

Supporting employees with their day-to-day needs, especially in the current cost of living crisis, should be a key area of focus, alongside support around longer-term needs such as pensions and retirement savings. This means offering financial education programmes alongside savings and benefits that help employees with a full range of money matters throughout their career, from debt and money management to preparing for retirement.

For it to make any real difference, it’s important that support for financial wellbeing is engrained across the company and support from board members and leadership is key. Making financial wellbeing inclusive is also a challenge that must be addressed and steps such as ensuring that any financial wellbeing initiatives can be accessed by all is crucial.

It is time for financial wellbeing to become a keystone of workplace wellbeing and employers must step up to ensure this happens.

If you would like to request a complimentary copy of the report, please click here.