The challenges of the past two years have resulted in increased employee stress and uncertainty, leading a large portion of the workforce to seek new job opportunities or pursue other life priorities. With the war for talent raging on, HR leaders are looking for ways to redefine the employee experience. Holistic wellness benefits that address employees’ physical, mental, financial and social well-being can help bring empathy, care, and a more human touch into the workplace.
HR.com recently hosted a virtual Financial Wellness event. During the conference, Marthin De Beer, founder and CEO of BrightPlan, led a session on 5 Must-Haves for a Holistic Financial Wellness Program. He shared why financial wellness needs to be a core component of an organization’s employee well-being strategy along with actionable steps and real-world examples for building a successful financial wellness program.
Employee stress is at an all-time high. Notably, more women (62%) than men (52%) reported feelings of stress on a daily basis, likely due to increased caregiving responsibilities and greater financial uncertainty spurred, in part, by working in industries most disrupted by the pandemic.
While sources of stress are individual and varied, the BrightPlan 2021 Wellness Barometer survey revealed that finances are the number one cause of stress for employees, with 65% reporting being financially stressed. Stress in any one dimension of well-being can negatively impact other aspects of well-being, making financial stress and physical and mental health tightly connected. The financial impact to organizations can also be significant. Financially stressed employees report an average of 15.3 hours of reduced productivity and engagement each week, costing U.S. employers nearly $5 billion per week*.
Our current reality calls for organizations to prioritize their employees’ holistic well-being if they want to attract top talent, drive employee engagement, and build an inclusive workplace culture.
In the past, many employer-driven financial wellness initiatives were focused primarily on supporting a subset of employees: high-net-worth executives. Today, more companies are committing to building financial wellness as a key lever to enabling the holistic well-being of all their employees.
As most of an employee’s financial life is tightly connected with their employer as the primary source of income, companies are viewed as a trusted source of financial information. BrightPlan’s 2021 Wellness Barometer Survey found that over 80% of employees want support and guidance from their employers on personal finances—not only for retirement and financial education, but also financial planning, investing, and day-to-day money management. There is also a growing sense of employer responsibility to address these concerns. According to the Bank of America 11th Annual Workplace Benefits Report, 62% of companies feel extreme responsibility for their employees’ financial well-being.
When financial wellness is tightly integrated with a company’s Total Rewards strategy, organizations can better guide employees on their journey to achieve their personal and career goals.
Organizations must continue to prioritize employee financial wellness and overall well-being to attract top talent and build an inclusive workplace culture. Solutions that are holistic and address the physical, mental, social, and financial well-being of diverse employee groups are central to creating more meaningful and lasting emotional connections with employees.
To learn more, watch the on-demand webinar.