Ilyce Glink, Author at Best Money Moves

Could Cloud Computing Help Improve Your Productivity?

by Ilyce Glink | Nov 8, 2017 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

Will cloud computing improve employee productivity?

More businesses are finding that by moving key processes to the cloud, they’re able to operate more efficiently – especially since the option to work remotely has become increasingly popular among employees. By moving documents to a central location online, and automating certain aspects of a team’s workflow, employees are able to complete assignments wherever they are.

Many cloud-based platforms allow groups of people to contribute to the same project at different times, and some of the latest platforms even measure how productive each team and each individual on the team are.

Since online solutions take less time to learn, according to e-commerce company Meylah, companies that switch to the cloud can reach a higher level of productivity sooner. Here are some other ways cloud computing could help your people work smarter.

A lot of things have changed since 1996. In its 2016 Employee Benefits Research Report, the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) looked back at some of the changes in employee benefits and the companies that help facilitate these benefits since the organization started issuing these reports. See what‘s new.

Updating your employee benefits could help you keep your best employees. Whether you go for more traditional perks, such as a 401(k) match, or think outside the box with options such as free intern housing, your team will thank you for it. Learn what innovative employee benefits these 10 top companies are providing.

Your employees are leaving and it’s costing you money. Retention is a growing problem for employers as the economy heats up and unemployment drops. The latest Gallup report found that a record 47 percent of the workforce says now is a good time to find a quality job and more than half of employees are searching for new jobs or watching for openings. Why are your employees seeking greener pastures?

Is your HR department performing at its best? In order to support a company’s business model and goals, HR professionals need to focus on efficiency and delivering real value where it counts. Start with these five essential practices.

Your employees probably aren’t engaged at work. According to Gallup’s most recent State of the Global Workplace report, 51 percent of workers said they weren’t engaged and 17 percent said they were actively disengaged on the job. Here’s what you can do to fix it.

Many young adult workers are ignoring or rejecting their health insurance options. We’re in the heart of open enrollment season and millennials are 82 percent less likely to have health insurance. Unfortunately, 25 percent of millennials are more likely to have past-due medical debt. Here’s how to engage millennials and use open enrollment season to your advantage.

Should you be offering more ambitious perks? In today’s tight labor market, many companies are using unique benefits to attract and retain top talent. Learn from these six examples.

Does your startup offer the right benefits? While young companies might not want to spend big bucks on extravagant employee perks like weekly breakfasts or a ping-pong table, businesses are still finding plenty of inexpensive ways to make their teams feel valued. Check out these ideas.

How can HR leverage HCM technology? They have to do what they do best: blend the characteristics of their business and their workforce. Here are three things that could help make up the ideal HCM tech framework.

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

Financial Stress and the Workforce: Your Employees Are Worrying About Money Troubles

by Ilyce Glink | Sep 28, 2017 | Blog

Your employees are worrying about money. And, they’re spending a lot of their working hours each month distracted by financial stress.

It’s widely accepted that financial stress has permeated the workforce. Human Resources professionals discuss the effects of financial stress, including everything from lower levels of productivity and retention to higher costs of healthcare, higher levels of workplace accidents, and more unexplained absences.

Mercer, a global consulting company, recently published a new study, Inside Employees’ Minds: Financial Wellness. After surveying more than 3,000 employees, Mercer concluded that employees spent an average 13 working hours each month thinking about their financial troubles, while 16 percent spent more than 20 working hours a month worrying about their personal financial stress.

That means they’re not thinking about the company or focusing on their job. The study concludes that these lost 13 hours per month is “enough of an incentive for employers to help employees address financial concerns.”

The company has created a Mercer Financial Wellness Index to measure and assess an employee’s overall financial wellness. Those with lower levels were preoccupied with paying their monthly bills and those with higher levels were preoccupied with retirement, the study found.

The study also found that some of those employees who are the most stressed earn a significant amount of money. “As measured by the Mercer Financial Wellness Index, 14 percent of those in the two lowest financial wellness groups have household incomes of more than US $100,000.”

The study concluded that traditional means of financial education, often referred to as financial literacy, isn’t enough on its own. Using a program that focuses solely on education won’t help employees reduce financial stress. Successful programs must have the ability to personalize to an employee’s needs and individual financial stressors.

Mercer concluded that finding programs that create “financial courage” will help employees engage in issues at a deeper and more meaningful level, and they have created the Mercer Financial Courage Index to try to help employers engage in financial wellness.

Read Inside Employees’ Minds: Financial Wellness.

Ilyce Glink is the Founder/CEO of Best Money Moves.

Open Enrollment and Financial Stress: What Employees Need to Know

by Ilyce Glink | Nov 2, 2016 | Blog

One of the biggest sources of financial stress Americans face is healthcare: both finding the coverage they need and the cost of obtaining it.

Open enrollment season for the US Health Insurance Marketplace is here and it’s time for those employees without adequate coverage (an estimated 13.8 million) to choose their plans and prepare for the associated costs. Unfortunately, this period can cause confusion and financial stress, especially if your workers don’t have a clear understanding of what they need to do and how much it will cost.

Here are some of the biggest issues that come up during enrollment season and what you can do to guide your employees through this process.

1. Deciding between old and new healthcare coverage

Open enrollment is the time of year when your employees are able to choose a new healthcare plan that covers their medical needs and, if the employer will pay for it, those of their family. Unfortunately, the easiest option is to not make any changes at all, and simply proceed with the same plan from last year. For many employees, this could mean overpaying or paying for coverage they don’t need. Your workers will then stress their budgets and leave themselves vulnerable in the event they need care for which they don’t have coverage.

The best way to conquer this hurdle is to ensure your employees are aware of their options and their responsibility to choose a plan. If you don’t provide this benefit, encourage your employees to compare new plan options to their current coverage by sending them to Healthcare.gov. That way, they can get started with the right resources and see if there’s a better plan option for them.

2. Figuring out what’s affordable and adequate

Once your workers know where to start, they’ll need to find the best coverage for their health needs. This should start with them reviewing their prior plan, seeing which coverage they still need and determining if there’s any coverage they no longer want or something new they need. Health Insurance Marketplace plans all cover things like pre-existing conditions and preventive care, so your workers don’t need to concern themselves with missing out on these offerings.

Your employees do need to worry about whether they can afford the coverage they want. Often – unless there’s an ongoing medical issue for which an employee needs specific coverage or they require a plan for their dependents or they want to keep the same doctors or providers – the most common issue is choosing between plans with higher deductibles or higher premiums.

A higher deductible means their budget is less stressed now, but costs may have to be covered out of pocket when they receive care, whereas a higher premium adds to their monthly bill now but often means lower out-of-pocket costs for future care. Finding the right balance can help lower their level of financial stress.

3. Understanding the deadlines and penalties

In addition to understanding their coverage, your employees must be aware of the deadlines for choosing a plan and the penalty for going without.

The current enrollment season runs from November 1, 2016 through January 31, 2017, though employees must choose a plan by December 15th in order for it to be effective starting January 1.

Your workers must meet these deadlines or they’ll risk having to pay a penalty of at least $695 on their federal tax returns for not having healthcare coverage. That fee could be even higher as it can also be calculated as a percentage of their income (2.5 percent in 2016).

This is a substantial bill, especially when you consider how little most Americans save. If you want your workers to avoid this additional financial stressor, take the time now to help them find the right health care coverage.

For more information about Best Money Moves, email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

3 Money Moves that Might Haunt You and How to Avoid Them

by Ilyce Glink | Oct 26, 2016 | Blog

Not every money move is a good one, but some can come back to really haunt you.

Consider these potentially scary money moves: Borrowing money for your children’s education; helping a friend by co-signing a lease or mortgage; and, opening an account to get an attractive benefit. These money moves could be a force for good or, if they go awry, they could haunt you for years.

The good news is that with some preparation and research your employees can avoid these financial nightmares and the financial stress that comes along with them.

Here are three financial decisions that could come back to haunt your employees along with some ways they can limit the damage.

1. Accepting loan terms without crunching the numbers first

Student loans are one of the biggest financial burdens for employees. Millennials are overrun with debt but their parents have, in many cases, co-signed for those loans and often have separate loans as well.

Much of the problem comes from borrowers being unprepared to pay these loans back out of the income they’re able to earn after graduation. It’s easy for borrowers to accept student loans without thinking twice – especially when it seems like everyone else is doing the same – but without some planning and forethought, these loans can wreak havoc on your employees’ finances for years, limiting their opportunities for buying a home and saving for retirement. That’s why it’s so important to crunch the numbers before signing your name to the loan documents.

While we started off by talking about student loans, this logic applies to car loans and mortgages, too. Before accepting the terms (and the money), encourage your employees to estimate their future monthly payments and make sure it’s an amount they can comfortably afford.

Otherwise, they’ll end up having to make hard decisions years down the line, like moving back home to afford their student loan payments or having to sell and downsize to a more affordable house. It seems simple, but taking a few minutes to run the numbers can help your employees avoid committing themselves to a future they can’t afford.

2. Co-signing without understanding the pitfalls

When you co-sign a loan, it’s often to help a child, relative or friend obtain something they couldn’t get on their own, like a loan or a lease. It’s a kind, helpful gesture, but also a risky one because it makes the co-signer legally responsible for the payments – the whole payment, should the person who signed the loan default.

Your employees might think they’re only being nice by co-signing a loan for a family member or friend, but make no mistake: if the original signer defaults or even stops making payments temporarily, the co-signer will be left footing the bill.

That could mean they’re stuck paying for two homes, two cars or an education they didn’t receive. It may also affect their credit history (which will now be tied to the credit of the co-signer, and may get dinged when payments are missed) and their ability to qualify for future loans.

You and your employees don’t have to refuse every request to co-sign (many parents help their adult children this way), but they need to take the responsibility seriously and understand the ramifications. Co-signing can evoke strong emotions, but it’s OK to voice concerns if the situation doesn’t make sense. Talking through the options could lead to a solution where your workers aren’t putting their finances at such a huge risk.

3. Opening accounts on the spot

Retailers often ask customers to sign up for store-branded cards at checkout, promising a moderate one-time discount or no interest for six months. Airline-branded credit cards often do the same in airports offering large sign-up bonuses and sometimes the deals seem too good to pass up. Unfortunately, these offers almost always have a downside.

The cardholder might have to spend a certain amount – much more than they normally would – in the first few months to actually receive the points or, if the card promises no interest, they could be charged interest retroactively for not paying off their entire balance by the end of the introductory period.

Suddenly the lure of a free flight has gotten your employees deep in debt and stressed over paying their monthly bills, when a quick read of the fine print would have shown them the important deadlines and details they needed to know.

If your employees routinely open new accounts without checking the fine print, they could also put themselves at risk of having their personal information stolen. The more companies that have this data, the higher the risk of it being exposed. And when your employees get in the habit of freely giving out details like their social security number, it could simply be a matter of time before that decision comes back to haunt them.

As we’ve learned, regularly reminding your employees to make smart money decisions does make a difference, so take action to help them avoid these terrifying fates.

For more information about Best Money Moves, email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

Having a Hard Time Saving Money? So is Everyone Else

by Ilyce Glink | Oct 19, 2016 | Blog

Are you having a hard time saving money? Well, saving money doesn’t come easily for anyone, whether it’s a retirement account or an emergency fund. But it turns out most people are struggling with it as much – or more – than you.

A recent survey from GoBankingRates found that making more money doesn’t mean you necessarily have more money stashed away. And that’s true even if you earn nearly $100,000. This is a big problem, since having some savings can protect your overall personal finances from unexpected (and unpleasant) surprises.

Here are some of the reasons employees at all income levels face issues putting money away, and how employers can help them correct their habits.

A universal problem putting money away

According to the survey, more than 70 percent of Americans making less than $25,000 a year have less than $1,000 in savings. The numbers are nearly identical for employees earning $50,000 – or even $75,000 – annually. Clearly, the problem isn’t just the amount of take home pay.

It can be confusing for employees in a lower income bracket to think those making double or triple their salary could still be living paycheck-to-paycheck. Many people likely think a decent raise in pay would solve all of their money problems, but it seems that for a majority of employees as their pay goes up, so does their spending.

Stress caused by a lack of savings

Without adequate savings, your employees are at the mercy of any unexpected expenses or changes to their budget. An injury, car problem or home repair could throw their finances out of whack and put them at risk of missing other bills and monthly payments or racking up debt to cover these costs.

Counting on the next paycheck to get by means there’s never a chance to build up a safety net and there are several factors creating this problem.

When an employee’s spending rises along with their salary, they experience ‘lifestyle inflation’ and in some ways it’s understandable. A promotion or raise typically means a change in stature, so your employees might feel social pressure to upgrade their lifestyle along with their income. Or, employees could be facing a barrage of monthly expenses – including student debt along with rent and utilities – that eats up nearly as much of their now slightly bigger (after taxes are taken out) check.

No matter what the temporary financial stress, the underlying problem is often a lack of financial education. It doesn’t matter how much your workers earn; if they can’t manage their money well enough to get ahead of the ball, they’ll still feel financial stress.

Setting themselves up for lifelong financial stress

For some employees, this creates a daily problem of financial stress, but the bigger issue is that it’s setting them up for a lifetime of anxiety. Employees who can’t or don’t save will face difficult choices today for sure, but also even more complicated decisions as they near retirement – a second survey by GoBankingRates showed more than half of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. These workers may have to delay retirement, drastically alter their retirement plans or seek assistance from family, consequently hurting their relatives’ savings goals.

Financial stress forces your workers to think very short-term: making it until the next paycheck or covering the next set of monthly bills. But the less action they take to fix these problems now, the more they end up hurting their future selves.

For more information about Best Money Moves, email info@bestmoneymoves.com.