When you think of your typical financial wellbeing benefits, you might think of financial education for employees, salary deducted loans and investment ISA’s for your employees. However, if your employee’s financial wellbeing is a key focus of your employee benefits package, you need to think outside the box and consider other employee benefits that help put your employees in a better financial position and give them more peace of mind.
Of course, many employee benefit schemes are designed to save employees money, but when it comes to employee financial wellbeing it’s not just about saving employees’ money here and there, it’s about helping them save in the long term and save on their living expenses.
If achieving better employee financial wellbeing is a key target for your employee benefits offering, consider some of these schemes if you don’t already!
Car Salary SacrificeRunning a car is likely to be one of your biggest expenses. If it’s an older car, it’s more likely to surprise you with unexpected costs too. Salary sacrifice, however, gives employees more access to brand new vehicles and reduced lending costs. Thus, employees can avoid unexpected repair bills and could potentially save even further due to better fuel efficiency. Furthermore, with car leasing, employees can consolidate their motoring expenses into a simple monthly payment and avoid maintenance costs.
The removal of unexpected repair bills and maintenance costs make the car salary sacrifice scheme a great benefit scheme option when it comes to giving employees a little more piece of mind. It also allows them to manage their finances a little easier!
Cycle to WorkNot all your employees will get to work using a car. Some might cycle in and buying a road bike can be expensive. It’s not as expensive as buying a car, however it is still a big upfront cost. However, with a cycle to work scheme, by spreading the cost and paying through salary sacrifice, not only are you making savings but you’re also turning the upfront cost into an easy-to-manage fixed monthly cost, just like with the car salary sacrifice scheme.
For those who cycle in to work rather than drive, much like the car scheme, a cycle to work scheme is a great way to turn an employee’s commuting cost into a secure, fixed, easy-to-manage monthly payment.
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)While an EAP can’t help an employee directly with their finances through salary sacrifice, it can help provide confidential financial advice. If you already provide a source of financial education for employees, an EAP can be a great way to supplement it, just in case there’s any information your employees can’t find.
It provides employees a bit more piece of mind when it comes to their finances, knowing there’s confidential support available 24/7.
LifestyleOffering lifestyle benefits as a way to help employees save money sounds like an obvious option. However, if you’re looking to push a financial wellbeing message with your employee benefits, you need to make sure you communicate the lifestyle benefits you have on offer as such.
For example, lifestyle benefits can help employees save on expenses like their weekly shop. Even if your lifestyle benefits offering could save employees a small percentage on their shopping, over the course of a year the savings add up, particularly for families.
