Financially resilient employees report higher levels of wellbeing retention and engagement. To build a more financially resilient workforce we help you connect employee financial needs and preferences to your total rewards strategy and employee experience.
Our integrated financial resilience and wellbeing solutions enable you to understand the financial priorities of your workforce, we deliver solutions that boost employee financial resilience and wellbeing, driving business value through equity, engagement, retention and overall wellbeing.
What is employee financial resilience?
Resilience is the ability to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change and keep going in the face of adversity. Employee financial resilience is the ability to navigate financial disruption.
Today’s employees face a wide array of financial anxiety, amplified by the current environmental challenges including:
- Inflation and economic uncertainty
- Gaps in financial literacy and financial inclusion
- Geopolitical unrest and climate change
- Changes in government and employer provided benefit programs
The events of the past several years illustrate the importance of employee financial resilience in enabling employees to develop and sustain a path to financial security.
Stages of employee financial security
An employee’s current financial state may range from severe financial stress to financially secure. To provide financial security, financial resilience and wellbeing programs strive to support the diverse financial priorities of employees across each of the following needs:
- Manage core needs. Understand and manage financial commitments including spending and budgeting, and debt management.
- Prepare for the unexpected. Protect against risks, build emergency savings and cope with financial shocks.
- Grow career, assets and savings. Invest for the future through career development and saving for goals such as home ownership and retirement.
- Sustain financial security. Navigate and adapt to change while staying aligned with personal short and long-term individual financial goals.
What is the business value of employee financial resilience?
Employee financial resilience results in better business outcomes through higher levels of employee engagement, retention and wellbeing.
The WTW 2022 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey highlights aspects of employee financial insecurity:
39% of employees say they are living paycheck to paycheck.
35% say financial problems are negatively impacting their life.
49% have suffered a financial shock.
69% don’t think they save enough for retirement.
The survey also highlights the connection to business results. Employees living paycheck to paycheck, compared to those who are not lose nearly two days of productivity a year due to presenteeism. They are also:
- Two times more likely to move to a new job
- Two times more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, burnout and loneliness
Source: 2022 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey, Global
Likewise the WTW 2023 Benefits Trends Survey found that globally, employers’ top priority for improving their benefits offerings in the next two years was financial wellbeing.
How can you build a financially resilient workforce?
The WTW 2022 Global Employer Wellbeing Diagnostic Survey found that 67% of employers say employee financial wellbeing is a priority over the next two years, but only 21% report that they are effective in improving the financial wellbeing of employees.
Given the importance of financial resilience and wellbeing, why aren’t more employers achieving the results they strive for?
Improving the financial resilience of your workforce requires understanding the financial priorities of your workforce and delivering relevant solutions that meet employees where they are. We work with employers to:
Discover
Understand the financial priorities of your workforce through employee data analytics, surveys or listening strategies. Identify how the programs and resources you provide today align with employee needs and market trends. Gather input from key stakeholders to align with business goals.
Design
Develop an employee financial resilience strategy tailored to meet the needs of your workforce and your organization by analyzing gaps, priorities and opportunities. This includes elements such as (re)designing total rewards (pay, career, benefits and wellbeing) and financial wellbeing resources (e.g., financial education, independent financial counseling, banking access, debt management, modeling tools, etc.) to address diverse financial needs.
Execute
Engage employees by meeting them where they are, empower them by connecting relevant education, tools and resources in moments that matter, and enable better outcomes through an employee experience designed to facilitate behavior change. Understand the changing landscape of different financial wellbeing solutions by geography, and carefully evaluate and select partners aligned with your strategic objectives and the financial priorities of your workforce.
Track
Monitor strategy execution and program success while tying back to overall business success metrics.
Contact us if you’d like to learn how to design and deliver a successful approach to employee financial resilience at your organization.
