More than half (59%) of employer respondents who have a staff wellbeing strategy in place now specifically include financial wellbeing within this, according to research by Close Brothers Asset Management.
Its quarterly Business barometer, which surveyed 906 UK employers, also found that 70% of service organisation respondents that have a staff wellbeing strategy in place offer financial wellbeing support.
The research also found that:
- 29% of respondents implement a financial wellbeing strategy via a financial education programme, 16% use a debt counselling service or employee assistance programme (EAP), and 14% opt to deliver support through access to a financial adviser.
- 68% of manufacturing organisation respondents with an employee wellbeing strategy offer financial wellbeing support, and 49% of public sector respondents do so.
- 35% of respondents have an overall wellbeing strategy in place, and 18% are in the process of arranging one.
Jeanette Makings (pictured), head of financial education at Close Brothers, said: “Staff wellbeing strategies are on the rise, as [organisations] consider how best to increase engagement and boost productivity and retention. As part of overall wellbeing, we are also now seeing an increase in financial wellbeing. With so many changes to the personal finance landscape, employers play a pivotal role in supporting their employees’ financial wellbeing.
“Employers who recognise the role they can play in supporting staff with the many and complex financial choices they now face will benefit from more financially secure staff who make well-informed decisions and who as a consequence will be more engaged, happier and more productive at work.”
