Why Investing In Employee Financial Wellness Can Benefit Your Organization

In the past, employee wellness was defined as the mental and physical health of an organization’s team members. While these are both important dynamics of wellness, another important element has made its way into defining this metric.

Employee financial wellness is a fairly new dynamic being introduced into many corporate environments. Often overlooked in the past, this metric is now receiving newly deserved attention among HR and management.

It only makes sense, especially from the “take care of your employees and they’ll take care of you” platform. What is financial wellness, and why is this area receiving more attention now than ever before? More importantly, what does it have to do with an LMS?

What is Financial Wellness?

Financial wellness is defined as any team member’s peace of mind regarding financial security as a result of their wage compensation. However, the amount a team member makes isn’t always the most important dynamic for financial wellness, as money management is a key factor.

When you dig into the term financial wellness and examine the most important contributing elements, you’ll find the following issues are at the forefront.

    1. Control

Controlling your money is an important element of financial well-being. Do your team members have control over their spending? Making key decisions regarding a budget is an important element of financial control.

    2. Security

Anything can happen at any time in life. Normally, these unexpected events come with a certain monetary value attached to them. Having a decent amount of money put away in case of emergencies is important when it comes to financial security.

    3. Freedom

You should also understand how to enjoy your money. Financial wellness includes freedom from debt and the ability to purchase certain things considered wants as opposed to needs. Your team members should be rewarding themselves.

    4. Planning

All of the elements listed above take a certain degree of planning. Are members of your organization well-versed in financial planning for the future, promoting overall financial wellness?

Clearly, all of these elements are important in daily life. However, many may question where they fit in terms of corporate culture and learning management systems. The following section outlines why financial wellness should be a large part of how you examine your team members.

Why Is Financial Wellness Important In the Workplace?

As the pace of our world continues to move faster and faster, having the ability to make crucial financial decisions is important. Why should this matter to a company in terms of employees?

Promotes an Atmosphere of Caring

Most organizations are aware of the important role they play in the lives of team members. After all, a large majority of their time will be spent at work.

Promoting financial wellness in your team members is just the right thing to do. Anyone that spends such a large portion of their lives contributing to the success of any organization should have some type of guidance and assistance available when it comes to financial wellness.

Boosts Engagement

Many surveys show that money is a top concern when it comes to things that stress employees. When one of your team members is having money issues, it becomes hard to focus solely on being productive at work.

These stresses can lead to poor engagement on the clock. When organizations show they are actively willing to step in and provide guidance, this directly improves engagement by giving team members peace of mind. It’s important for them to be aware that HR and corporate have their best interests at heart.

Fights Aging Workforces

When team members are better prepared for retirement, they can actually go ahead and pull the trigger on doing just that. If your workforce isn’t prepared for life after work, most likely, you’re going to have an aging team.

This creates problems when you’re trying to open up the pipe for new talent to come in. Demonstrating to team members how to better prepare for retirement will give you more choices from the talent pool when it’s time to hire.

Productivity

When your employees (especially new ones) worry less about money, productivity increases substantially. If team members are worried, it’s difficult to count on them to be problem solvers and leaders.

However, if their financial load is lighter and they plan for wellness, most likely, their productivity will show it. Projects are completed much more efficiently when stress levels are reduced.

You’ll Have a Healthier Workforce

We all understand what financial problems lead to. It’s not uncommon for anxiety issues and depression problems to develop in team members that are having a difficult time balancing their finances.

When you help team members develop strategies that lead to financial wellness, the chances of having a healthier workforce are much higher. Depression and anxiety are less of a factor when team members have a well-rounded combo of physical, mental, and financial health.

Promoting Financial Wellness

Use the following ideas to promote financial wellness to produce better learning and engagement from new employees.

• Developing good money and spending habits.
• Help them develop and set financial goals.
• Assist them in working towards and hitting these goals.
• Help them in dealing with debt. When employees have a better understanding of how to manage debt and utilize credit, the chances of financial issues becoming a problem decrease.
• Encourage them and show them how to save. Many people don’t have a firm understanding of what it means to save or budget. Giving them the steps and presenting relevant examples will help them to plan for financial wellness.
• Help them to understand pensions and what different retirement packages entail.

Assisting your team members in the financial sector gives them a firm understanding of how much you care about their future. This can end up paying huge dividends with an LMS platform by boosting engagement and raising levels of productivity. Money isn’t the most important thing in the world; however, we all work for a paycheck and require it to keep the bills paid. Ignoring this vital metric could present the mistaken image that you’re not concerned with employee goals, which could be detrimental in the end! Contact us today for a free consultation.