Financial Wellbeing and helping employees feel confident about your financial future is key to an engaging and motivated workplace.
Most Australians, even yourself while reading this, can recall a time where you were concerned about money. In fact, money is one of the biggest sources of stress in Australia.
Stresses can impact employees' happiness and distract them from succeeding at work.
What is financial wellbeing? At a basic level, it's about having a good relationship with your money. ANZ defines it as "how well you can cover everyday expenses with enough left over to save and manage any surprises."
Someone with good financial well-being not only is aware and in-control of current day-to-day expenses, but also able to make financial decisions about your future. For example, retirement savings.
In recent years, we've seen a shift to employers offering programs that empower employees with financial knowledge surrounding organizing personal finances, managing debts, planning for retirement, and having a savings plan.
Research conducted by Monash University and Behaviour Works Australia found that the more control an individual has over their finances, the less anxious they will feel over the long-term.
What are 5 strategies to foster financial wellbeing in the workplace?
1. Educate Employees With Readily Available Materials
Many people don't know where to start looking to kickstart their financial wellbeing journey. Having a range of educational material readily available for employees is crucial to help foster financial literacy.
There are many ways to make this information available, to fit all budgets and organization sizes. The Australian government department of social services (DSS) has support available to all Australians in the form of financial counselling through the National Debt Helpline. More free resources are available via moneysmart.gov.au where financial counsellors assess your financial situation and provide advice and support to people struggling with bills and debt.
A more hands on option is to offer access to professional financial advisors. Whether by hiring one into your workforce, bringing one into your workplace for counselling sessions or hosting a financial well-being day partnering with local advisory services. The option offered depends on your organization's budget.
2. Implement Best Practice Financial Management Tools
There are a number of tools to help employees foster healthy financial behaviors beyond counselling. Additional tools can include automated savings plans, financial boot camps, cash-flow management, and debt management.
Offering a range of tools helps employees gain the confidence to take control of their financial well-being.
3. An Effective Salary Packaging Program
Salary packaging is a tax office approved way of reducing your income tax, allowing you to deduct some of your pre-tax income and use it to pay for benefits. By adding Salary Packaging to an employee's remuneration package, you as the employer will be contributing to a boost in employee morale, attracting and retaining quality employees, and helping employees and employers save on payroll tax.
By partnering with Remunerator means no administrative nightmare. We will do all the heavy lifting for you and streamline the on-boarding process, making it a quick transition for you to offer salary packaging.
4. Offer Novated Leasing
Offering novated leasing as part of your salary packaging program helps enhance your employee benefits further. Simply, Remunerator Novated Leasing makes buying your new car easy and stress-free with a novated lease.
Novated leasing is the most tax-effective way to buy a car. It involves a three-way agreement between the employee, employer and the financier administered by Remunerator. Employees don't have to worry about being out of pocket when paying for your car and related expenses.
Novated leasing allows you to bundle all your car-related expenses, including the car and it's running costs, into one simple regular payment.
Buying a car is commonly considered the second biggest purchase one will make in their life, after a house. Therefore, by offering a program to help manage the process of this will help foster a culture of financial wellbeing.
5. Flexible Working Arrangements
Offering flexible working arrangements is considered a norm these days. Not only does it empower employees by offering more control over work-life balance, but it can also prove to be financially beneficial too.
It offers employees the opportunity to save on commuting costs to and from the office. In addition, it can help working parents save on childcare costs.
Are you ready to foster financial wellbeing within your organization and kickstart your employee benefits program? Talk to a Remunerator Salary Packaging specialist today about your program!