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4 Ways Financial Wellness Can Boost Employee Retention

4 Ways Financial Wellness Can Boost Employee Retention

by | Jul 14, 2021 | Blog

4 ways financial wellness can boost employee retention. Retention is an increasing problem in the post-COVID workforce. Financial wellness benefits could be the solution employers need. 

In the post-COVID world, retention is an increasingly complex problem that organizations are struggling to solve. 

In fact, 64% of American workers are seeking or considering new employment according to a November 2020 study by HR software firm Ceridian. That number jumps to 75% for workers under 30. For organizations to have any hope of combatting this wave of turnover, they need to first get real about the pain points driving employees to leave. That’s where financial wellness comes in. 

Consider these four ways that financial wellness benefits can help boost employee retention.

1. Financial stress is a bigger problem than most employers realize.

Vaccinations have significantly improved the state of the pandemic, but experts estimate that it could take years for Americans to recover financially. Now, most Americans rank their finances as the single biggest source of stress in their life. Finances can be a taboo topic at work, but chances are you have multiple team members that are struggling. Offering financial wellness benefits can provide valuable help to employees of all ages, incomes and backgrounds. 

2. Financial wellness provides tangible benefits to stressed employees — and their workforces.

Financial stress can lead to a loss of productivity, increased absenteeism and widespread mental health challenges among employees. So, learning how to manage your money doesn’t just reduce stress in an abstract sense. When employees are less stressed about money, they’re more focused at the office and spend less time on non-work related issues. This, in turn, can reduce absenteeism and improve overall retention rates.

3. Financial wellness programs can help employees feel seen by their employers.

When you offer financial wellness programs to your employees, you signal to them that you care and have a realistic view of their work/life balance. Staying connected with the struggles of your employees helps create a more intimate work culture, which in turn creates a more positive overall experience at the office and makes it that much harder to leave.

4. Money impacts every aspect of your employees life. Financial wellness can too.

At its core, retention is about ensuring employee satisfaction and successful retention strategy finds a way to help employees feel fulfilled in all areas of their lives. Money touches nearly every aspect of a person’s life, from daily spending, to housing, to family planning, or saving for a future retirement. So financial wellness can bring wide-reaching, impactful help to employees at any stage or circumstance.

Best Money Moves is a human-centered and individualized approach to financial wellbeing. The comprehensive and user-friendly platform provides a plethora of financial resources and educational tools. The library of resources contains over 700 articles, videos, and calculators. Each Best Money Moves user has their personal feed tailored to the several distinct factors that monitor their personal stress. This means your employee can use Best Money Moves to educate themselves on anything from investing in the stock market to co-signing loans to buying their first home. 

Employee information is always private but employers do have access to key analytics that show overall employee financial stress and stress levels over time. The Employer Dashboard also features information on program usage, debt and savings levels and more so employers can see just how valuable Best Money Moves is to their employees.

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

4 Ways to Support Female Team Members After COVID

4 Ways to Support Female Team Members After COVID

by | Jul 7, 2021 | Blog

4 Ways to Support Female Team Members After COVID. Research increasingly finds that women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. What can employers do to support female team members? 

Women, especially women of color, have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a 2020 study conducted by McKinsey & Company, women comprise roughly 39 percent of global employment, but have accounted for 54 percent of all pandemic-related job losses. 

Even as the pandemic wanes, many women continue to face long-term hurdles to their career development due to inaccessible childcare options or gaps in their work history from forced time off. What can employers do to provide better support to these female team members? 

Consider these 4 benefits that can help provide much needed support to women in your post-pandemic workforce. 

1. Facilitate flexibility for all employees.

It comes as no surprise that many women with families are still the primary caregivers in their homes. In fact, according to research from the Society of Human Resource Management, as many as one in five people know a woman who left the workforce during the pandemic in order to handle child care that became suddenly inaccessible after daycares and schools closed.

Consider pivoting your team to a results-focused rather than time-focused schedule. This can not only support productivity, but also keep workers less stressed and more focused as they know they have support for their duties both at work and at home. 

2. Provide paid parental leave for new parents, regardless of gender.

Similarly, if your workers are welcoming a new family member as part of the anticipated post-COVID baby boom, aim to provide mothers and fathers alike with paid parental leave. According to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 21% of US workers have access to paid family leave through their employers. This puts the U.S. well behind any other wealthy country, where paid parental leave is not only available, but often nationally mandated.

Paid parental leave has been shown to help combat income inequality and improve job continuity, especially for lower-income families. Plus, providing leave to men in addition to women normalizes the practice and combats the “motherhood” bias. This is a prejudice that women may face in competitive fields should they choose to take time off work to be with their new children.

3. When hiring new team members, be realistic about the gaps in work history related to the pandemic.

For those women forced out of the workforce by the pandemic, returning to the office may not be as simple as picking up their careers where they left off. Even as they return to work, many women fear long-term damage to their career trajectory and salaries, which have been thrown off track by the unexpected absence. When approaching the hiring process after COVID, try not to penalize applicants who may have been forced to take time off work due to the pandemic. 

4. Institute (and stick to) pay equity measures among team members.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, be sure that you compensate your female workers with the same criteria you use to compensate male employees. On average, white women still earn only 79 cents to every dollar that their male coworkers earn for the same positions. Women of color are often even more significantly impacted, earning anywhere from 54 to 62 cents on the dollar compared to white men.

One idea some companies are using to successfully address this issue is to conduct transparent salary audits. This holds the company accountable and signals to potential employees that there is an active effort to achieve equity. Another successful strategy is banning inquiries about past salaries. This effort stops employers from importing unequal salaries from past companies.

Gender equality benefits all employees in your organization. Be sure to review and update your strategy for gender parity often to make sure you’re supporting the team members who may need it most.

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

5 Things Employers Need in a Financial Wellness Program

5 Things Employers Need in a Financial Wellness Program

by | Mar 24, 2021 | Blog

5 Things Employers Need in a Financial Wellness Program

Not all financial wellness programs are created equal. How do your options measure up?

Post pandemic, financial wellness programs have seen a sudden rise in popularity. Forty-two percent of employers now offer one or more financial wellness programs, according to data from MassMutual. Those numbers are only expected to grow.

Employers seem increasingly aware that they need to provide a high-quality, broad-based financial wellness program. Even as they invest in a more holistic approach to overall employee wellness. It’s the right move. But not all financial wellness programs are created equal. And, throwing a bunch of point-based solutions at your employees doesn’t count.

Maybe you’re already offering a financial wellness platform loaded with benefits to your employees. Or, perhaps you’re getting ready to take the plunge. Either way, these are the five must-have pieces to successful financial wellness program.  

1. Financial wellbeing programs need comprehensive guidance.

Employer financial wellness programs shouldn’t start and stop with a 401k plan or the occasional bonus. Money is at the root of many of the decisions that we make every day in our career and personal lives. Your employees are facing issues as wide-ranging and unique as they are:

  • Paying off significant student debt
  • Financing or managing health care costs
  • Daily budgeting issues
  • Elder care challenges
  • Relationship issues, and everything in-between.

In order for a financial wellness program to truly make a difference in a person’s life, it should address financial needs both great and small with a consistent breadth and depth of knowledge.

2. Include customizable financial wellbeing content for employees at any stage.

Similarly, while it’s true that money affects everyone, it affects everyone in different ways. With up to five generations in the workforce, your employees have different financial goals, expectations and circumstances. In order for a financial wellness program to be worth the time and money you’ll invest, it needs to address every individual employee, regardless of their age, financial status, stage of their career, etc. A good financial wellness program will offer the same level of individual assistance to those employees still starting their careers as it does to those raising families or approaching retirement. A great one will make personalized and customizable content available in an easy-to-use, integrateable intuitive platform.

3. Bring financial wellness current with timely insight into real-world issues.

Real-world financial insecurities require real-world advice and realistic solutions. Your financial wellness program needs to acknowledge and validate that external factors like mental health, chronic illness, gender or racial inequality and other inequity play a part in your employees’ financial lives. Reality-based financial tools are more likely to be used and yield tangible results for the employee, and real ROI for HR.

4. Financial wellbeing programs need trustworthy, reliable security.

This one is simple: Money matters are sensitive issues, and nobody should feel like their financial security is at risk. A good financial wellness application is encrypted and secure, even at rest, with no one, not even employers, able to access an individual’s delicate financial information without the user’s permission. Look for a financial wellness program that prioritizes user security. 

5. Don’t forget to include a human touch.

It’s easy to get lost in a flurry of statistics and calculations when talking about financial wellbeing, but at the end of the day, financial security is key to emotional and physical wellbeing. It’s time to demystify learning about money: Your financial wellness program should be fun and easy-to-use, run by a team who cares about your employees as much as you do. 

Keep these must-haves in mind as you think through program changes. How do the financial wellbeing programs offered to your employees measure up?

Financial Wellbeing Programs Create Opportunities for Employee Engagement

If you’re looking for a stronger solution, talk to us. Best Money Moves is a human-centered program that offers a personalized approach to financial wellbeing. The comprehensive and user friendly-platform provides a plethora of financial resources and educational tools, with nearly 800 articles, videos, and calculators. Employees can measure their level of financial stress in each of 15 categories, and our algorithms will send personalized and customized information, tools, and solutions that help solve the problem and reduce financial stress.

Whether your employees need help saving money, paying their bills, raising their credit scores, getting ready for retirement or buying a house, Best Money Moves is there to support them every step of the way. Best of all, Best Money Moves is portable, so when your employees move on, they can take it with them.

Give your employees the very best financial wellness experience. Reach out for a demo today!

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

The Top 5 HR Trends to Look For In 2021

The Top 5 HR Trends to Look For In 2021

by | Mar 3, 2021 | Blog

The Top 5 HR Trends to Look For In 2021. Keep an eye out for these five up-and-coming HR trends as workforces everywhere adjust to a post-COVID world. 

It’s no secret that 2020 was a disruptive year. Fallout from the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of Americans to work from home, and changed the way employers think about employee wellness. The new workforce needs to be adaptable and resilient in the face of uncertainty and leadership must find new ways to keep their teams motivated and healthy. 

 Here are the top 5 HR trends to look for in 2021, after a year that transformed the way Americans work. 

  • Continued remote work & an emphasis on hybrid work spaces. 

A year into the pandemic, workers have had time to reflect on the pros and cons of going remote and, to the surprise of many, there’s reason to believe that work-from-home options may stick around, even after the pandemic has ended. In a recent PwC survey, 83% of employers said their shift to remote work has been successful. According to the same survey, 55% of employees want to work at least three days a week from home, even after concerns of COVID-19 fade. While this doesn’t exactly align with employers — 68% of whom claim they need at least three days in the office a week to maintain company culture — the results do make one thing clear: We are likely heading in the direction of compromise. Look for more offices staying remote or vying for half-remote, half-in-office hybrid models in 2021. 

  • Increased flexibility on work hours. 

Some Americans are beginning to feel the restrictive nature of the 9-to-5 daily grind, especially after a year where many working parents lost the support of daytime childcare to the pandemic. Now, it seems employers are exploring alternative ways to structure employee time at work, many of which are paying off. According to Gartner’s 2020 ReimagineHR Employee Survey, while 36% of employees were high-performers in the standard 40-hour workweek, that number rose to 55% when employees had flexibility over their hours and location. Expect this idea to be tested in more and more companies this year.

  • Increased employer focus on employee wellbeing and mental health support. 

According to the CDC, mental illnesses are associated with higher rates of disability and unemployment. These struggles affect more than just productivity and engagement, they can damage physical capabilities and daily functioning. Nearly 41% of adults report symptoms of anxiety or depression in their households, according to a January 2021 report from Kaiser Family Foundation, a massive spike from the 11% reported in June of 2019. With more and more employees experiencing challenges resulting from the collective trauma of the pandemic, employers must adapt. While there’s a long way to go, many companies feel more comfortable having conversations about mental health. As such, employee benefits are trending towards mental health support.

  • Increased employer focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion among staff. 

This trend isn’t based around productivity or output and isn’t about numbers or qualifiers: It’s about morality and equity. A year of social unrest has caused more companies to acknowledge their shortcomings when it comes to diversity and take the first steps toward becoming more inclusive. While diversity describes the make-up of a company, inclusion implies a more active approach. Companies are understanding that you need to be intentional about remaining inclusive.

  • Emphasis on corporations taking social and political stances. 

The United States is undergoing a serious social reckoning and being a bystander to the burning social and political issues of the day is becoming harder to justify. When the leadership of a company aligns itself with the views of its employees, the entire company culture moves towards unity and, in turn, productivity. According to Gartner research, the number of productive and engaged employees jumped from 40% to 60% when their companies acted on the social issues of the times. More and more companies are feeling empowered to voice these opinions to their employees. 

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

5 Financial Stress Statistics for 2021

5 Financial Stress Statistics for 2021

by | Feb 3, 2021 | Blog

5 Financial Stress Statistics for 2021. These 5 financial stress statistics illuminate a growing problem in the American workforce. What can employers do to help their teams?

Almost a year after the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus/COVID-19 a public health emergency, workforces nationwide continue to feel the effects of the pandemic. But fears of getting sick aren’t the only thing keeping Americans up at night. Increasingly, studies show that financial stress is a major problem among most employees, and employers need to reevaluate the scope of the problem in order to find solutions that financially empower their teams.

Here are five fast facts about financial stress in 2021 that could be impacting your workforce:

  1.  On the whole, the American workforce is stressed out about money — often even more so than they’re stressed about the pandemic.

    According to a 2021 Capital One CreditWise survey, 73% of Americans rank their finances as the most significant source of stress in their life. Given the state of public health, this statistic reveals the gravity of financial wellbeing in the lives of individual employees.

  2. Gen Z and Millennial employees are feeling this crunch the most.

    This same survey pointed out that the younger generation in the workforce are the most stressed about their finances. A remarkable 82% of Gen Z respondents and 81% of Millennial respondents noted that their finances are at least somewhat stressful. Although it’s difficult to say what exactly is causing this disparity, two factors may be that younger generations have significant student debt and a smaller accumulated savings.

  3. The cost of medical care weighs heavily on employees.

    Forty-one percent of Americans feel that the cost of medical care is the biggest financial stressor, according to the latest CFP Board and Heart + Mind Strategies survey. Other major concerns seemed differentiated by generation. Gen Z and younger Millennial respondents marked more concern about paying rent or mortgage than older Millennial and Gen X respondents, while the older generations were more concerned with saving for retirement than younger colleagues.

  4. Most people are underprepared for financial emergencies.

    According to PwC’s annual Employee Financial Wellness Survey, 38% of all employees have less than 1,000 dollars to deal with unexpected expenses. This number jumps to 62% among Gen Z respondents and drops to 34% among Gen X respondents.

  5. Employees are shouldering this burden alone.

    The CFP Board and Heart + Mind Strategies survey also noted that 3 out of 4 respondents did not seek the help of a financial planner. Those who did saw their stress levels drop.

Bringing Financial Wellness To the People Who Need it Most 

One thing’s for sure: In one way or another, regardless of age, experience or industry, employees are struggling with financial stress. That’s why financial wellness platforms like Best Money Moves are key to improving the employee experience. 

Insightful, comprehensive and easy-to-use. Best Money Moves offers consumer-focused financial education designed to help users of all experience levels learn more about their money. More than a simple budgeting tool, Best Money Moves helps your employee educate themselves about everything from investing in the stock market to co-signing loans to buying their first homes with access to a library of over 700 articles, videos and calculators. Plus, Best Money Moves connects employers with data they can use to help their workforces succeed by  leveraging user analytics to create individualized employee content.

Employee information is always private but employers do have access to key analytics that show overall employee financial stress and stress levels over time. The Employer Dashboard also features information on program usage, debt and savings levels and more so employers can see just how valuable Best Money Moves is to their employees.

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