How to support employee’s financial wellbeing during the cost of living crisis.

We asked Jonathan Watts-Lay, Director, WEALTH at work, some key questions on how employers are working to support their workforce during these turbulent times.

Q: As a result of the current turbulent economic times, have you seen more employers offering their staff support with managing their day-to-day finances? If so, what have they been offering?

A: We have spoken to many employers looking for ways to alleviate the financial burden placed on employees by the cost of living crisis. They recognise that supporting employees with their financial wellbeing is an integral part of creating a healthy workplace. In fact, we have worked alongside many employers to provide specialised cost of living financial education to over 3,600 employees so far. These cover a range of topics such as how to budget, what Government support is available, how to reduce costs and ways to manage debt.

We have also found that our one-to-one financial guidance sessions and digital tools including the ‘Financial Healthcheck’ can really help with these topics and signpost people to available support.

This support is invaluable to help employees navigate their finances during such turbulent times but also with providing them with skills and know how that they utilise in the long term.

Q: What issues are employees turning to their employer for help with and what practical support can employers offer for managing financial wellbeing on a daily basis?

A: In some scenarios employees may seek salary increases, however, offering higher remuneration alone may not solve all financial wellbeing worries. We have found employees really benefit from support from their employer on how to save costs on a day-to-day basis by utilising their workplace benefits.  This may include; discount schemes (e.g. money off grocery shopping), help with financial planning including debt support, and salary sacrifice schemes to help reduce costs for travel, mobile phones, gym passes and health and dental care.

There are also other saving hacks that employees may not yet have thought of that may seem small but can really add up. This includes checking all outgoings to find other ways to save money such as cancelling any unused subscriptions or memberships, shopping around for better deals on insurances at renewal, such as car and household insurance, as well as broadband and mobile suppliers, and switching brands on the regular shop. As we all know, rising energy costs are a big concern so things like avoiding tumble dryers, utilising smart heating, using more efficient light bulbs, and finding cheaper ways of cooking such as using a slow cooker can all help.

Financial education and one to one guidance sessions in the workplace is key to helping employees realise all of this and build their financial resilience for the future.