Financial wellness has recently gained importance to build successful work teams. And for good reason. After all, financial stress harms both the professional and personal lives of your employees, and by extension the organization too. According to a report, financial stress results in a 34% increase in tardiness and absenteeism. Along with being stressed, employees who worry about money also miss almost twice as many days per year compared to other members of the work team. Financial stress can also lead to increased presenteeism, where employees come to work despite being physically or mentally unwell.
While it may seem less bad as the team members are physically present in the workplace, after all, presenteeism seriously affects organizations and can cost them a lot of money.
Financial stress can result in a wide range of health problems for your team members, varying from depression and anxiety all the way to heart problems. In other words, if you can take your work team’s financial worries out of the equation, that’s one step closer to a healthier and happier workforce.
Apart from the fact that financial stress affects an individual employee’s morale and health, it will eventually also weigh on their team members and other colleagues.
When financial stress can lead to an increase in absenteeism, presenteeism, and ill employees, it’s no real surprise that it affects their productivity as well. A survey done among more than 10,000 Americans shows that US companies lose $500 billion a year due to their employees’ personal financial stress.
The concept of a financial wellness program has evolved due to the exponential growth in the complexities in the field of personal finances. Along with the abundance in the availability of personal finance options, financial wellness programs are essentially aimed at providing effective assistance to all the team members in meeting their personal finance goals.
From identifying the diverse needs of your employees to having a robust feedback mechanism, financial wellness goals can be tangibly set up to assist concerning matters like financial goal setting, consumer credit building, financial crisis management, personal and household budgeting among others. Providing such programs can be an integral step to build successful work teams.
One of the best ways HR can build successful work teams is by introducing financial literacy tools and financial wellness tools in the workplace as a means to teach and guide them. This is important in making the team members understand their finances better, look out for investment options and even get them out of a personal financial crisis.
Educating your work team about the foundations of personal finance, ways to build healthy financial habits and personal wealth, and making them aware of concepts such as quick instant loans and salary advance loans is one of the best ways to help them. By acquiring a good understanding of their finances, they will be able to make better and more informed decisions regarding their savings.
Smart budgeting and automated investing are associated with the execution of the financial plan drawn up by employees. Digital tools serve as constant reminders and act as a platform that enables easier investing. It also helps in keeping financial plans on track and enables HRs to build successful work teams.
Smart budgeting platforms and applications can help keep a track of the monthly expenditure and finances, and automated investing platforms can help in the automation of the transfer of a pre-decided amount from a checking account to a savings account. Hence, it saves all your employees time.
PwC report in 2020 stated that even though young employees of the team stated that job security is the most important factor when it comes to financial wellness, for older aged employees it was found to be healthcare facilities and lower healthcare costs. It is mandatory to see and measure your employee’s financial wellness to build successful work teams.
It is unlikely for all your team members to share common health-related concerns. People belonging to different generations will have different health issues and goals. While for an average youngster, it might be to stay fit and have a toned body, the same might not be the concerns of a comparatively old-aged employee.
Their preferences would rather be tie-ups with hospitals and having rebates on healthcare services. Therefore, it is quite important to consider these factors to build successful work teams.
Repayment of student loans could be one of the most pressing issues for the younger employees in the team. In fact, as many as 80% of this generation consider it as the most important factor stopping them from achieving financial wellness.
However, for the older generation in the workspace, offerings such as easy housing loans, post-retirement benefits, etc., might be of more significance. Therefore, it is important to understand their financial goals and liabilities to be able to effectively build successful work teams.
Understand your employees’ position when it comes to savings to combat the problem of financial stress. According to the PwC report (2020), as many as 67% of the younger employees had less than $1000 in savings while the number was significantly lower in older members of the workforce.
It is important to educate your work team about the latest financial tools and services available, such as salary advance loans and quick personal loans. HR leaders need to support and help their team members in financial planning and must build successful work teams.
Quick personal loans and salary advance loans are some of the options that could help work teams plan their finances better, and help them when they’re in urgent need of financial assistance. The solution provided by HR should include modules and sessions for educating, planning, investing, carried out by financial experts and advisors to help them reach their goals. At Fibe, we offer various options for financial wellness for your work teams, such as salary advance loans, personal loans, and financial wellness solutions.
It is important to help your employees plan their savings, and provide them with comprehensive training concerning personal finance management, to build successful work teams.
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