Ten ways to improve your financial wellbeing programme

One step at a time - Financial wellbeing has the potential to reach out in many different directions, and involve a huge variety of activities. But starting small, with a specific project or campaign can often be more manageable, show more tangible results and help you to understand what will work as you build for the future.

Remember high earners - While employees who are struggling financially might seem most in need of a financial wellbeing programme, it affects all of the workforce. The challenges might be different, but all age groups and earning bands have a need to improve their wellbeing.

“Want and need” are great places to start – Encouraging staff to engage more with their money and improve their financial wellbeing isn’t always an easy sell. But there are likely to be times where employees have a specific need or actively want to gain more control of their finances. Examples might be approaching retirement, or when an employee first joins the company.

Create the right culture – As with any wellbeing strategy, a successful financial wellbeing programme starts at the top. Buy-in from senior staff is essential in creating a culture where individuals perceive work as a place where they can improve their wealth, rather than just getting paid.

Everyone’s an individual – Segmenting communications using measures such as age, seniority or gender may not always be helpful. Everyone is an individual and financial experiences such as marriage, divorce, parenthood, buying a house, starting or losing a job or graduating from university happen at different times in employees’ lives.

Mix and match your learning – people learn in different ways, and may also want to access education, advice and support in different ways. While online services can be great at laying the groundwork for financial wellbeing, nothing beats face to face conversations for really understanding an individual’s needs.

Benchmark, measure and report - By benchmarking existing activity, it is easier to make the case for future investment and broader programmes. Identify appropriate criteria for success before introducing any new campaign, and have a mechanism for feeding results back to senior management.

Financial wellbeing matters for employers too – It’s tempting to think that it’s only employees who profit from financial wellbeing programmes. But there are significant advantages for employers as well. Better productivity and reduced absenteeism are two of the potential benefits – but again, to understand the effect, benchmarking and accurate measurement is important.

Make trust work for you – Employees already have a trusted financial relationship with their employer – after all, that’s where their salary and pension come from. Take advantage of that relationship of trust when encouraging staff to get involved with their overall financial wellbeing.

Financial wellbeing doesn’t have to be a standalone benefit – Staff money worries may well be affecting their physical and mental wellbeing as well. Creating links between financial wellbeing programmes and other aspects of your health strategy means that staff can not only take greater control of their finances, but also feel better generally.