Specialist recruitment group Hays offers a range of financial wellbeing benefits to help support its workforce through the pandemic and beyond.
Rosemary Lemon, group head of reward, says: “Financial worries are one of the biggest causes of stress and this can affect how we feel emotionally, our mental wellbeing, and our ability to concentrate and focus, both inside and outside work.”
Lemon says financial wellbeing is a key part of its overall wellbeing offer, with the employer constantly developing new products.
“In deciding what new benefits to include, we try to think outside the box of traditional benefits and really try to understand the financial issues that affect society today,” says Lemon.
To this end, Hays offers an impressive range of financial benefits, including extensive retail discounts on food and other everyday essentials and a service connecting employees with a firm that provides good quality rental housing with a reputable landlord.
Other benefits include affordable employee loans, practical financial education, access to an employee assistance programme (EAP), the facility to save regularly from payroll, a workplace pension and the provision of protection products such as life assurance and help with will writing.
Hays has recently launched a cash savings plan with applications made online and deductions made via payroll into a building society account.
“Employees can save as little as £1 per pay period, and have access to their money at any time. When money is deducted straight from pay, it makes savings straightforward and easier to budget and manage. We have also relaunched our Sharesave offering and given employees access to a financial education hub,” Lemon explains.
Hays is also running several webinars and issued information fact sheets to help employees understand how these benefits work.
“In the current economic climate, financial confidence and wellbeing has never been so important. It is therefore essential to ensure financial benefits meet current needs and that they are well communicated and understood,” Lemon adds.