How financial wellness tools could have a huge impact on your organization

We may spend a lot of time concerning ourselves with the financial health of our organization or department, but are we realizing the impact that personal finances are having on our people?

Covid-19, a cost of living crisis, and global supply chain issues have meant we face some of the highest monthly expenses in living memory. And according to new research, 42% of us lose sleep about our finances.

One response by organizations has been to focus on the ‘financial wellbeing’ of their workforce. In the US, up to 83% of organizations are now making sure there’s support in place for workers who regularly worry about their personal finances.

In this blog, we’ll look at how financial wellness can be a huge benefit for both employers and employees, and the tools that can make a huge difference to everything from productivity to retention. 

What is financial wellness, and what are financial wellbeing programs?

Financial wellness refers to the effect that our finances and financial needs have on our physical and mental health. Our finances affect us in different ways, ranging from worry and strain to happiness and fulfillment, regardless of the amount we earn.

Our financial situations can leave us feeling embarrassed, and many of us don’t want to own up to not being ‘savvy’ with our finances, or having unsecured debt. Financial wellness programs are all about offering employees discreet support that can alleviate these financial concerns.

Often, financial wellbeing programs are provided by a third party to avoid employees having to share their personal financial situation with their colleagues or manager. However, financial wellbeing isn’t only limited to guidance provided by a third party – organizations can access several financial wellness tools within their payroll to ensure their teams have the best support.

A pair of powerful financial wellness tools

Although there are many financial wellbeing tools out there, including 1-2-1 coaching, seminars, on-demand courses, and rewards and discounts, we’ll look at two that work together very well:

Earned Wage Access

With this flexible payroll tool, employees can access their wages outside of the usual monthly pay cycle. Why is this a great tool for employees? It means that if an unexpected bill pops up, the employee doesn’t have to rely on credit or a loan until payday.

Similar to systems for annual leave, employees can log into a cloud-based app or web portal like CloudPay Now and access their accrued wages for the month. They can then withdraw some or all of their available earnings at any given time, resulting in less financial stress, or removing the need to fall into credit card debt ahead of payday.

Financial education

Being great at our jobs doesn’t always mean we are great when it comes to our finances! And this doesn’t just mean not being able to manage our day-to-day budget either – it’s about financial literacy and making our earnings work for us too.

From helping us to manage our pensions to individual coaching sessions on financial planning that help us structure our finances correctly, financial education isn’t just about the negatives. It can be totally tailored to suit the needs of your employees. When paired with a tool like earned wage access, financial education tools can be especially powerful – both enhance an employee’s financial freedom and understanding of personal finances, reducing common stresses and strains.

How financial wellness tools help employees

If you’ve ever worried about money yourself, take a second to imagine how things would feel if you had additional support at your fingertips to alleviate that stress. The physical and mental benefits for teams become clear, with 67% of workers saying money worries specifically affect their performance at work.

Financial wellness tools and support are also big pluses to add to the overall employee benefits package. And by engaging with teams and showing that financial wellness is high on the agenda, employees will feel more valued.

On top of this, we’ve already mentioned the impact earned wage access could have on a case-by-case basis, for example to pay for an unexpected mid-month expense or to cover a gift, holiday, or new purchase. This gives employees more flexibility with the money they’ve earned.

How financial wellness tools could help your organization

The impact here relates to the overall wellbeing of your workforce. Reduced stress and mental health absences, as well as an increase in productivity, are huge benefits for organizations.

But perhaps the more important point is that many employees, some of whom are highly desirable in the market, expect financial wellness benefits and support tools to be part of their package as standard. By not having a financial wellbeing program in place, you run the risk of losing candidates to competitors who do.

Integrating financial wellness tools into payroll

Creating a new set of financial wellbeing tools for your organization doesn’t necessarily mean a big investment and subsequent project. With CloudPay and new partner Claro Wellbeing, financial wellbeing tools are now available as part of our earned wage access service, CloudPay NOW.

“With the rising costs of living continuing to impact household budgets, we remain focused on providing additional support to workers worldwide. While our Pay on-Demand solution gives our customers the ability to better control the flow of their pay, the additional input from Claro Wellbeing will allow users to access regular, new financial wellbeing content that is relevant to the latest developments in the global economy. I’m excited to see this partnership develop and grow.” 

Josep Elias, Chief Strategy Officer at CloudPay

Employee financial wellness tools may have been overlooked in the past, but as all of us face higher expenses, they’re possibly more important than ever.

If you’d like to add financial wellness tools to your benefit roster and make another key benefit available to your teams, get in touch with CloudPay to learn more about Claro Wellbeing and the tools in the CloudPay NOW app today.