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Reach Your Company’s Goals with Financial Wellness Programs

Reach Your Company’s Goals with Financial Wellness Programs

by | Aug 1, 2018 | Blog

In the Best Money Moves Roundup, we run down the latest news on financial wellness, business milestones and payday advances.

The research is in, and employees want financial wellness programs. A recent Bank of America study found that 91 percent of employees who participate in financial wellness programs say those resources have helped them. Similarly, 95 percent of employers who offer those programs agree that these support systems have been effective in reaching their company’s goals.  

Financial wellness programs provide tangible benefits to the businesses that offer them, including greater employee satisfaction, improved productivity, lower turnover rates and potentially lower healthcare costs.  

But here’s the problem — less than half of all employees are offered financial wellness plans, and when they are only 31% of those employees participate. Many employees don’t understand how to use — or even find — their programs, desire more personalized help or are too busy to utilize them.  Find out how to overcome those issues below.

Here’s How to Increase Participation

What We’re Reading

Financially stressed employees are the new norm. Help Millennials find financial stability to reduce anxiety, take back productivity and lower absenteeism. Here’s how to get started.

Embrace green space in the office. Green space can help reduce mental fatigue to improve productivity and job satisfaction. Financial benefits for employers are an added bonus.

Say hello to “retirement income flooring.” This benefit offers employees an alternate strategy for retirement security that analyzes and addresses retirement needs to reduce stress. What is retirement income flooring?

Free payday advances. New apps allow employees to access their pay more quickly, with one service providing up to half of a prior day’s earnings to workers at no extra cost to them. Is it too good to be true?  

Curb lost productivity. Employers say they’re helping to combat workers’ money problems by offering financial education. Here’s how financial literacy can benefit your workplace.

Milestone for women in business. This fall, the University of Southern California will set a new precedent when it enrolls more women than men in its MBA program, the first top-tier business school to reach that mark. What does that mean for other schools?

Get the pay you deserve. Know your worth before going into salary negotiations so you can receive compensation that equals your value. Three things to keep in mind.

What You Need to Know About Employee Burnout

What You Need to Know About Employee Burnout

by | Jul 25, 2018 | Blog

In the Best Money Moves Roundup, we run down the latest HR news on retention, mobility and pollution.

Employee engagement drives productivity and retention, but it’s not all good news.. Research from Yale University revealed 50 percent of moderately to highly engaged employees are burnt out. They’re passionate about their work and show high skills acquisition, but they’re also the employees most at risk for turnover.

Dr. Jochen Menges, a co-author of the study, claims his research can help employers. “By shedding some light on some of the factors in both engagement and burnout, the study can help organisations identify workers who are motivated but also at risk of burning out and leaving.” A shortfall of Menges and his colleagues’ research is its inability to pinpoint when engagement stops being productive and starts exhausting valuable employees.

The challenge is to find the fine line between engagement and burnout. It’s different for everyone. One way to tell is to watch for signs like frustration and anxiety.

How to Find the Right Balance

What We’re Reading

Women appointed to boards at a record high. Close to 40 percent of vacant board seats at Fortune 500 companies went to women in 2017. Learn more about this rising trend and its implications.

New LinkedIn research. It’s no surprise that attracting and retaining top talent is imperative with unemployment at a low, but how do you do it? Use these strategies to stay competitive.

Focus on mobility and stability. If you’re in an industry with high turnover consider offering opportunities to move into different positions and benefits that support employees and their families. See what ROI on employee investments looks like.  

WeWork bans meat. In a bold move WeWork announced it won’t serve or reimburse meals that include red meat, poultry or pork. Why they’re doing it and more importantly, can it work?

What are stay interviews? Instead of waiting for an exit interview to get some feedback start conducting stay interviews to find out why employees stick around. How this can help you retain more employees.

Are you using the 20/60/20 rule? Instead of trying to win over 100 percent of your team, use this rule to strategically focus your attention on your most valuable team members. What the 20/60/20 rule is and how to use it.

Digital distractions. Employees can’t get a full 30 minutes of work in without being distracted by work instant messages and emails or personal text messages and notifications. How to deal with communication overload.

Job insecurity and sexual harassment. Three separate studies found that sexual harassment is driven by the harasser’s fear of being called out for inadequate job performance. Now that we know, what can we do about it?

Know the Warning Signs of Employee Burnout

Know the Warning Signs of Employee Burnout

by | Jul 25, 2018 | Blog

There’s a fine line between employee engagement and burnout. Know the warning signs of employee burnout for higher retention and productivity.

Employee engagement drives productivity and retention, but it’s not all good news. Research from Yale University revealed 50 percent of moderately to highly engaged employees are burnt out. They’re passionate about their work and show high skills acquisition, but they’re also the employees most at risk for turnover.

Dr. Jochen Menges, a co-author of the study, claims his research can help employers. “By shedding some light on some of the factors in both engagement and burnout, the study can help organisations identify workers who are motivated but also at risk of burning out and leaving.” A shortfall of Menges and his colleagues’ research is its inability to pinpoint when engagement stops being productive and starts exhausting valuable employees.

The challenge is to find the fine line between engagement and burnout. It’s different for everyone. One way to tell is to watch for signs like frustration and anxiety.

The study measured engagement, burnout, demands, resources and how they interact and influence each other in over 1,000 U.S. employees. Employees that were ‘optimally’ engaged reported high resources and low to moderate demands. They had support from their supervisors through rewards and received recognition without having to struggle with cumbersome bureaucracy, demands for concentration, or heavy workloads. On the other hand, 64 percent of employees experiencing burnout reported high demands and high resources. Finding the right balance between resources and demands might be the key to productive engagement.  

Look for common symptoms like exhaustion, frustration, anxiety, and inability to keep up with daily tasks. Monitor workloads to find out when it’s time to dial demands back and expand resources. Wellness programs can ease stress and help employees manage work-life balance, but if demands are too high employees will still burnout.

Research from Business Point Innovation Network and Pollfish found that 60 percent of working mothers and fathers experience burnout. Employees with children might be more likely than others to experience burnout, but there isn’t enough research on demographics to confirm which employees are most at risk.

Until there’s more research, it’s best for employers to assume any employee could be at risk for burnout.

Open Offices Are Trendy, But Are They Effective?

Open Offices Are Trendy, But Are They Effective?

by | Jul 17, 2018 | Blog

In the Best Money Moves Roundup, we run down the latest news on open offices, paid leave, and keeping employees engaged during summer.

Supposedly, open offices improve communication and collaboration.  However, a recent study published by The Royal Society indicates that the open office may be doing the exact opposite.

According to the study, face-to-face communication takes a 70 percent dive in open offices. Instead of fostering collective energy the study found that “open architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to withdraw from officemates and interact instead over email and IM.”

The research also found that productivity declined after eliminating spatial boundaries. Considering 70 percent of Americans work in open offices, this is an issue companies are going to have to tackle in order to recoup possible productivity losses.

See more on effects of open offices and what you can do about it here. 

What we’re reading: 

What paid leave program works best for you? Paid absence policies are valuable to employers and employees, but they require a balance to make sure it’s beneficial for both sides. Ask yourself these 3 questions.

Help avoid the summertime slump. Summertime weather and activities mean there are a million things your employees would rather be doing than work. Use these tips to keep employees happy during summer.

“Ghosting” at work. The term “ghosting” that Millennials traditionally apply to relationships is also relevant to work. Learn more about new hires ghosting and the challenges facing HR.

Navigate the many options for employee well-being. There are endless employee benefits and with low unemployment you want to make sure you select the right one’s for your staff. Here are 4 tips to help build an effective wellness program.

Get ahead of termination. Problems that eventually result in termination can be prevented. Given the costs of turnover, it’s advantageous to try. See if any of these 11 strategies to prevent problems resulting in termination can help.

Amazon’s unconventional “Pivot” program. Underperforming employees can have a courtroom-style video conference with a jury of peers to make evaluations more fair and communicative. So why are some employees are protesting it?

Custom medical plans. Each employee has different healthcare needs and some new companies are offering the ability to customize their medical plans. How this trend is developing and its implications.

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

The Truth is Open Offices Aren’t Really Collaborative

The Truth is Open Offices Aren’t Really Collaborative

by | Jul 17, 2018 | Blog

Open offices should encourage collaboration between employees. But the truth is they aren’t really collaborative after all.

Supposedly, having an open workspace improves communication and collaboration. However, a recent study published by The Royal Society indicates that the open office may be doing the exact opposite.

According to the study, face-to-face communication takes a 70 percent dive in open offices. Instead of fostering collective energy the study found the opposite. “Open architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to withdraw from officemates and interact instead over email and IM.”

Do You Work in an Open Workplace?

The research also found that productivity declined after eliminating spatial boundaries. Considering 70 percent of Americans work in open offices, this is an issue companies are going to have to tackle in order to recoup possible productivity losses.

Lower Job Satisfaction Reported in Open Offices

A study published in SAGE Journals found that employees are irritated most by the sound of conversations, ringing phones and machines in the office. Noises like these are unavoidable in most open offices. They hinder productivity and are frustrating for employees who can’t tune out unless they isolate themselves further by listening to headphones.

Another study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health found that employees who work in open offices take an average of 62 percent more sick days versus other layouts. This is because viruses and bacteria spread more easily. But it could also be because the lack of privacy in open offices is stressful and stress makes sickness more likely.

Designing Around the Open Office Challenge

Although there are a number of challenges with open offices, they can be done right. Harvard Business Review determined what makes certain floorplans successful. They found that employees are more likely to respond positively to an open office layout when an employer conveys the vision for the space beforehand, is enthusiastic about the transition and encourages employees to adapt the space to their needs. The report notes, “When leaders encouraged adaptation and teams felt comfortable claiming the space as their own, they reported more place identity and generally felt better about the objective features of the space, like privacy, noise, and lighting.”

Work With Your Employees To Improve Open Offices

Communicate changes in office layouts, be enthusiastic about the space and allow flexibility so employees can make their office space more comfortable. While open floorplans have drawbacks, it’s still possible to create an environment tailored to the needs of your employees. Take back productivity, job satisfaction, and reduce absenteeism by making your office space work.

Read more about office environments:

Top 10 Workplace Etiquette Rules for Communication