Why a Financial Wellness Benefit Is a Must for Your Employees

Whether it’s the pain of losing workers to a slightly higher paycheck across town or seeing them spend work time on the phone juggling money problems, employers agree the widespread lack of financial wellness is impacting workplaces and harming businesses.

You probably thought running a business sounded fun—until you realized it would actually run you. Discover the EntreLeadership System—the small-business road map that takes the guesswork out of growth.

Just how bad has it gotten financially for the average American worker? According to our research, the numbers say it all:

• Over half of Millennials (53%) say the amount of debt they have is greater than what they have in retirement savings.²
• Most Americans are in the habit of barely getting by: Just over half of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck.³
• Over a third of workers (36%) say they’ve been distracted at work due to financial problems.⁴
• Financial troubles persist across the income spectrum—even among six-figure earners, 21% struggle to pay bills.⁵

All that strain has gotten employers’ attention and sparked a movement to help their teams replace financial anxiety with real wellness. And that’s great news.

What Is Financial Wellness?

You may be wondering why we’re talking about financial wellness like it’s a new idea in the workplace. After all, there’s a long tradition of offering employees certain financial benefits:

• A company retirement plan of some kind
• An annual seminar on investing
• A few tools to help get workers started with a 401(k)

So, what’s new about financial wellness? It’s pretty simple, but it has the potential to reshape how the average employee handles their money. True financial wellness is based on the growing recognition that in order to help people make progress with their money, just sharing the facts isn’t nearly as important as helping them change their behavior.

As we like to say, personal finance is only 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior.

For years, retirement programs have emphasized financial facts and statistics. But from a look at average debt loads, weak emergency funds and poor participation in retirement plans, it’s clear that knowledge isn’t the problem. Traditional benefits programs miss the mark because they don’t address the underlying problem: bad money choices.

Your company may offer an annual workshop or 401(k) seminar to help educate people about retirement and wealth-building—and that’s a great start. But annual workshops aren’t nearly enough to motivate the kind of change necessary to see real progress. Neither are one-on-one meetings with financial advisors or even the most generous matching funds in a 401(k). What the average American worker really needs is a change in behavior that can transform the way they view and spend money.

Financial Wellness Means Behavior Change

Real financial wellness is what happens in an employee’s life when they replace constant worry about money with the hope that they can get out of debt and build some real margin in their lives. Instead of dreading budgets and bills, they begin to view money as a tool, and they know exactly how to use it to build wealth.

When employees achieve real financial wellness, they gain the confidence of knowing they’ll never have to worry about money again. And employer-provided financial wellness programs can do lots of things to create that kind of hope.

An Environment for Success

The annual workshop approach often doesn’t work because most people just aren’t willing to discuss their financial problems with their coworkers. After all, it’s a pretty personal topic—and who wants to share those details with people they work with?Real behavior change begins in a setting of trust. That’s why the best financial wellness program will offer employees online access to a variety of platforms—so they can interact with the content when and where they’re most comfortable. And if their spouse can learn and benefit from the materials, all the better!

Inspiring and Motivating Content

After establishing trust, it’s time to keep building it by providing employees with teaching from experts who talk with authority about money and show them how to move from despair to hope. Ideally, content will come in a variety of formats, from articles to educational videos and even useful infographics.

Clear Action Steps Toward Wealth and Generosity 

Until people have a plan that makes sense—including clear action steps that lead to meaningful, positive outcomes—they’ll never experience real financial wellness. The best programs teach about budgeting, debt elimination, saving for emergencies, investing and giving, and they’ll clarify how those steps fit together to form a complete, long-term picture of financial wellness.

Personal Stories of Life-Change

When we’re dealing with money problems like crippling student loan debt, we feel encouraged after hearing the stories of people who faced their issues and won. That’s the kind of life-change a financial wellness program should communicate to employees—stories that pull at the heartstrings and instill hope.

Crystal-Clear Education Around Money

Flexible online access, inspiring content and clear action steps make up the heart of a great financial wellness program. But that doesn’t mean employees don’t need any education about smart money habits. Without a doubt, the best programs will include clear explanations of debt, credit cards, taxes, insurance, investing, college funding and real estate.

Financial Wellness Is a Win-Win for Companies and Workers

A workplace benefit to improve financial wellness is a win-win for any business. It helps not only workers but also employers, who see greater retention and fewer unplanned absences.⁶

Every day more employers are recognizing that their workers both need and welcome guidance for making better money choices—including getting ready for retirement. In fact, Ramsey Solutions found that an overwhelming majority of workers (73%) wish their employers offered more resources to help them manage their finances.⁷

SmartDollar Can Work for You

Chances are your own company already offers a corporate wellness program, and it probably includes a financial component. If so, you owe it to yourself to check it out and see how it can help you on your journey to greater financial wellness.

If your workplace is looking for a financial wellness benefit, did you know we have our own financial wellness program?  It’s called SmartDollar, and it’s been helping people nationwide improve financial outcomes for both businesses and employees for over a decade. SmartDollar is a one-stop shop for all things personal finance, with lots of great resources like our EveryDollar budgeting tool and much more. No matter the size, SmartDollar can help your team find lasting financial peace.

Interested in bringing SmartDollar to your company? Contact the SmartDollar team today.