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3 Reasons You Need Financial Wellness in the Workplace

3 Reasons You Need Financial Wellness in the Workplace

by | Feb 2, 2022 | Blog

3 reasons you need financial wellness in the workplace. Morgan Stanley’s new study, The State of the Workplace  finds employees in need of financial wellness support and looking to their employers for help.

COVID has caused huge changes for employers and employees alike. That’s why Morgan Stanley at Work conducted a first-of-its-kind financial benefits study, called The State of the Workplace. The study, which compiled responses from 1,000 employed U.S. adults and 600 HR executives, attempts to chart how COVID-19 has impacted workplace experience. 

Among the many insights offered from the survey, one theme presented itself again and again: Employees’ financial stability took a hit during the pandemic and it’s time for employers to step in and help.

These are the top three reasons why your team needs financial wellness in the workplace.

1. The pandemic hurt employee financial security across all industries and positions.

Ninety-one percent of employees surveyed in Morgan Stanley’s report have faced personal finance challenges, such as household budgeting, debt reduction and emergency and short-term financial savings. This led to reduced financial contributions across 401(k) savings accounts, long-term and emergency short-term savings, and debt and loan payments.

Both employees and employers noticed a decrease in work productivity and performance due to this personal financial stress. Sixty-four percent of employees report that these stressors negatively impacted their work and personal life, while 82% of employers are concerned that personal financial issues affect work productivity.

Employers now have an increased responsibility to help their staff maximize their financial benefits; after all, if employees aren’t constantly worried about meeting their financial obligations, they can be more focused and productive at work.

2. When it comes to evaluating employer benefits, employees are focused on financial wellness.

With uncertainty fueled by the pandemic, employees are starting to reassess whether their current employer financial benefits meet their needs. Morgan Stanley noted that 61% of employees are paying more attention to what benefits they are offered. This percentage increases to 69% among Millennial employees, who are more focused on reviewing these benefits compared to the overall employee population.

Both employees and employers are looking for financial guidance. More than 4 in 5 employees believe that employers should be involved in helping employees understand how to maximize their financial benefits, while 95% of HR executives say that re-evaluating their companies’ 2022 benefits package is a moderate to high priority.

3. Employee financial wellness plays an important role in attrition and retention.

Meanwhile, employers acknowledge that re-evaluating the benefit plans offered is a top priority to stay competitive and retain talent

If your employees feel their financial needs are supported with a comprehensive benefits plan, they are also more likely to be productive on the job and stay at their company long-term. Ensuring that companies have the proper financial support for their employees will lead to retention of top talent. Ninety-one percent of employees say they would feel more invested in staying with their current employer if they have financial benefits that fulfill their needs. 

Employee retention is especially important if employers want to remain competitive. The State of the Workplace report indicates that 79% of HR executives believe that lack of financial benefits will result in attrition.

Need a first-in-class financial wellness solution? Consider Best Money Moves.

Financial wellness programs, like Best Money Moves, can help employees regain control of their finances. Best Money Moves has tools and features that help employees measure their financial stress, budget for monthly expenses, pay down debt and plan for emergencies. Employees can talk to trained professional financial counselors and educate themselves about everything from investing to co-signing loans to buying their first homes with access to a library of over 700 articles, videos and calculators.

Employers want a financial wellness program that is expansive, engaging and suited to meet each of their employee’s unique needs and they’ve found it in Best Money Moves

To learn more about Best Money Moves Financial Wellness Platform, let’s schedule a call. Contact us and we’ll reach out to you soon.

HR and Omicron: Financial Wellness Is Key to Employee Wellbeing

HR and Omicron: Financial Wellness Is Key to Employee Wellbeing

by | Jan 26, 2022 | Blog

HR and Omicron: Financial wellness is key to employee wellbeing. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is causing major stress for your employees. Offering financial wellness benefits could provide needed relief. 

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is leading to more shutdowns, changes to return-to-office plans and greater all around stress for your employees.

Research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) indicates nearly a quarter of organizations are  fairly or very concerned about Omicron. The same percentage of workers expressed concern about the variant causing a reduction in their hours.

How can you help employees deal with mounting financial stress as Omicron extends the pandemic? One way is to lean on financial wellness tools and programs, like Best Money Moves.

Employee financial stress is on the rise as the pandemic drags on.

The potential for a loss of work and an overall slowing of the economic recovery from the pandemic may be putting a financial strain on your workers, especially because the number of people struggling to pay their bills was already increasing before Omicron began spreading in the U.S. 

The U.S. Census’ Household Pulse Survey found that about 18% of people indicated more than one financial difficulty in September and October 2021, a month prior to the first detected case of Omicron.

Many people have been struggling to catch up on unpaid bills and mortgage payments as government interventions, like stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment insurance, went away. Some also began going back to the doctor’s and have had to deal with increased medical bills in recent months, while others faced difficulties with childcare costs as their offices returned to work. 

Providing budgeting tools, credit check-ins and resources on debt management can reduce stress and, in turn, improve productivity at work.

Another area financial wellness programs can help with is emergency savings preparedness. In a 2021 survey from SSRS Omnibus, 25% of respondents indicated having no emergency savings at all, an increase from 21% the year prior. An additional 26% said they have some emergency savings, but not enough to cover their expenses for three months. Resources that show employees how to create robust savings can make it easier to survive crises — like the new variant — with less financial strain

Employee financial wellness is more important now than ever before.

Offering financial wellness benefits to employees has also become more common during the pandemic. Another recent SHRM survey found that 26% of HR professionals said their organization added benefits or expanded existing benefits to help employees manage their financial stress since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations that already offered the benefits said they had been used more since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly financial planning and coaching.

Financial wellness programs are desired by most employees — 87% want help when it comes to personal finance, PwC found — and they are proven to work. Less stress improves overall health, lowers healthcare costs and reduces the risk of employee burnout and resignation. 

Plus, they can improve the productivity of your workforce: 68% of workers in a Prudential survey said their financial wellness benefits allowed them to be more focused at work. Further, 8 in 10 said they were more likely to stay with an employer that demonstrated a commitment to helping them strengthen their financial resiliency.

Best Money Moves can help.

Best Money Moves uses artificial intelligence to power a mobile-first platform that measures employee financial stress, then dials it down with a unique content-mapping system that helps solve your employees’ pain points. The triggers and alerts system, as well as budgeting tools, personal finance resources and more, help guide employees to make smarter financial decisions and reduce their overall stress. 

To learn more about Best Money Moves Financial Wellness Platform, let’s schedule a call. Contact us and we’ll reach out to you soon.

5 Ways to Improve Remote Cybersecurity for Your Hybrid Team

5 Ways to Improve Remote Cybersecurity for Your Hybrid Team

by | Oct 12, 2021 | Blog

5 ways to improve remote cybersecurity for your hybrid team. As workforces increasingly pivot to hybrid models, teams need to consider the unique security challenges posed by working from home.

Hybrid work environments, where employees work from home and come to the office, pose unique challenges when it comes to cybersecurity.  In a recent survey conducted by OpenVPN, 90 percent of IT workers polled said they believe remote workers are not secure. Over one-third said they have experienced a security incident due to unsecured remote workers. 

We’ve outlined five ways you can improve your remote cybersecurity, so you can avoid putting your hybrid team at risk. 

1. Set up a secure network.

When you’re in a physical office space, it’s important to have a private, password-protected WiFi network that all employees can use to work. However, when working from home, workers will be using whatever wireless network they have access to remotely. Setting up a virtual private network, or VPN, is one way to add an extra layer of cybersecurity protection. Using a VPN allows people within your company to connect and interact on one, secure private network, regardless of where they are geographically. 

2. Encourage multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Multi-Factor authentication, sometimes also called two-factor authentication, is another way to add a layer of security to your work logins. MFA requires the user to present two different credentials from two different categories when logging in to an account. One of the most common examples is entering a unique password and then entering a verification code that is sent via text or third party authentication app. Because the two factors have to be from different categories, two passwords would not qualify as MFA. This system makes it more difficult for hackers to break into users’ accounts and keeps your work network better protected.

3. Invest in email scanning and encryption software.

Scam emails spiked majorly at the start of the COVID pandemic, with IT company Barracuda Networks saying in April 2020 that it had seen a 667 percent increase in phishing emails amid the health crisis. As such, investing in email scanning or filtering software to detect potentially malicious messages could save you in the long run. Such software typically filters inbound and outbound emails to detect whether they classify as phishing, spam, a virus or a suspicious link. Emails also often contain sensitive or confidential data and it’s important to protect that information from any outsiders. You can do this by using a software to encrypt the data attached to emails on your server to prevent any unintended recipients from seeing it.

4. Keep work and personal technology separate.

A recent HP Wolf Security report conducted during the pandemic found that 46 percent of workers now think of their work laptop as a personal device, while 84 percent of IT leaders surveyed were concerned that using work devices for personal tasks has increased their company’s risk of a security breach. Work from home also presents the problem of workers accessing sensitive data from their personal devices, which may not be as secure as company-issued ones. Both of these situations pose a cybersecurity risk, so you may consider instituting a policy for employees to keep their work and personal devices completely separate whenever possible.

5. Commit to ongoing employee training.

One of the most important aspects of improving your cybersecurity is making sure your employees, and everyone who has access to your network, are on board and up to speed on the best practices. This process can include conducting cybersecurity training sessions or simply sending regular reminders about using the VPN, crafting secure passwords, spotting phishing emails and other fraudulent activity or whatever security concerns apply to your unique situation. 

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company, download our whitepapers.

4 Reasons Employees Are Quitting Post-COVID-19

4 Reasons Employees Are Quitting Post-COVID-19

by | Aug 31, 2021 | Blog

4 reasons employees are quitting post-COVID-19. The U.S. has seen unprecedented numbers of employees leaving their jobs after the pandemic. Here are 4 leading causes spurring employee turnover.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a period of incredible change, and it’s not over yet – an unprecedented number of employees are quitting their jobs.

At Quartz, Tim Fernholz writes that “the U.S. economy is currently experiencing the highest rate of workers quitting their jobs that we’ve seen in the last two decades.” A record 4 million people quit their jobs in April 2021 alone. Why? 

Let’s unpack the leading causes, and list some steps you can take to stop your best talent from leaving.

1. Employees are feeling the need for higher compensation.

In 2018 and 2019, workers were already quitting jobs at record rates.  Job satisfaction was also already low, especially among low-wage earners. These trends are motivated largely by compensation and benefits. 

But the problem of compensation can be traced further back, before even the 2008 financial crisis. Real wages in the United States have stagnated since the late 1970s. In the meantime, while consumer good prices – things like televisions or new sedans – trend low, costs associated with food, healthcare, childcare, and housing have skyrocketed. 

This problem has only been exacerbated by COVID-19. In the pandemic’s chaos, many people have assumed greater financial burdens, struggling with expenses related to child care, healthcare, debts, and ill family members. Many employees now look in toward the future, anxious about contingency costs, or inevitables like long-term care and retirement. 

This point may be the simplest and most effective: pay your employees competitive earnings and benefits to keep them feeling stable and supported, even in times of uncertainty.

2. Employees have grown accustomed to the flexibility available throughout the pandemic.

A Harvard Business School survey shows over 80% of workers who worked from home during the shutdown “either don’t want to go back or prefer a hybrid schedule.” While many startups and offices already sprinkled “work from home” days as an enticement or luxury, remote work is now the preference for many employees.

Material conditions motivate this demand for flexible scheduling. Many workers who are quitting are women, seeking jobs with more compensation and scheduling-autonomy for childcare needs. More time at home has re-taught many to value work-life balance.

If your employees have been fulfilling their work demands even while remote, consider extending flexibility beyond the pandemic. Talk to your staff and aim to negotiate reasonable hybrid-work schedules based on employee needs. 

3. Post-COVID-19, employees are upskilling and ready for change.

Many Americans who’ve quit (or remained on unemployment) are “upskilling,” or pursuing educational programs, such as online certificates or part/full-time college enrollment, with eyes toward new sectors of the economy. 

4. Americans are dealing with long-term burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though most people have gradually “gotten used to” a COVID world, people remain burnt-out, fatigued. As vaccination rates increase, workers will find they want to change careers, work less, or perhaps just take the time to process the trauma of recent history.

Employees’ access to mental health benefits should be kept strong. Again, allowing for remote flexibility and occasional paid time-off makes a staff feel supported.

Ultimately, it’ll take years of data to understand COVID-19’s impact on the labor market and the lives of those in it. Some jobs are essentially gone for good. For now, employers and HR managers would do well to accommodate their employee’s shifting needs in the wake of a long public health crisis.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company, download our whitepapers.

Combat COVID-19 Burnout With These 3 PTO Strategies

Combat COVID-19 Burnout With These 3 PTO Strategies

by | Aug 11, 2021 | Blog

Combat COVID-19 Burnout With These 3 PTO Strategies. PTO benefits can be an important weapon in fighting widespread pandemic burnout. Try these three strategies to encourage PTO use.

The quickest short-term solution to employee burnout is rest. Yet, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, American workers have a history of not taking full advantage of their PTO. In 2018, there were 768 million unused vacation days according to the US Travel Association – that’s an average of 6.5 days for every full time worker.

Even though burnout has increased dramatically during the pandemic, PTO use has actually  decreased overall, according to data from Deloitte. Paid days off are a vital part of healthy work life and can help keep teams feeling focused, connected and motivated to work. So why aren’t employees taking them? The problem is part culture and part policy. 

Let’s break down three strategies to combat COVID-19 burnout by encouraging PTO.

1. Make PTO a mandatory part of office life.

One of the things that makes wasted PTO so prevalent is that workplace culture often rewards employees who sacrifice their own rest. This mentality, also labeled “workplace martyrdom,” encourages the mindset that the whole office takes a hit with one team member missing. Employees then feel a sense of guilt, denying their own need for a break, which in turn causes burnout. By making PTO mandatory for your team, you remove the idea that rest equates laziness or selfishness on the part of your employees. Instead, build a culture where breaks are a necessary and encouraged part of an employee’s job.

2. Separate vacation and sick days to discourage employees from working through illness in favor of vacation time.

According to XpertHR’s Paid Leave Survey 2021, 41% of paid leave plans are PTO bank plans. In these plans, most or all paid leave is bundled together for non-distinguishable use. This forces employees to pit their health against their vacation. This doesn’t make much sense and sometimes leads employees to come in sick in order to save vacation days. Not only is this obviously a health risk, but it also encourages all sorts of mental gymnastics that detract from an employee’s wellbeing.

3. Rollover unused PTO days and encourage employees to use them quarterly.

Not all employees operate on the same schedule. Allow employees the flexibility to plan their time off in a way that works for them. Instead of having their vacation days wiped at the end of the year, they can utilize them in individual ways. Although this doesn’t solve every part of the problem, it adds value to off days and gives employees more agency.

Time off can look a variety of ways. Whether it’s a minimum per year, a company-wide “holiday,” or incentivized PTO, it’s critical that employees feel that their boss actively wants them to take time off. If being a workplace martyr is motivated by a desire to demonstrate dedication to the company, the key is switching the framework to signal to employees that sometimes dedication to the company can look like making sure you bring the best version of yourself to work every day. That isn’t possible without rest and self-consideration.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company, download our whitepapers.