Why it is so important for Companies to understand their team members financial wellness
- Written by Dean Perlman
In a survey conducted by CoreData, they found that only 6% of employees they surveyed, classified themselves as ‘superstar savers’. This section was defined as having no concerns about their ability to pay their mortgage or rent.
They defined financial wellness as:
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A state of being healthy, happy and free from any financial worries and stresses
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Being able to live your desired lifestyle for the rest of your life without financial anxiety or fear
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Having a clear understanding of their financial situation and having the ability to live within their financial means
It’s important to note that people’s financial wellness is not solely reliant on factors such as age and wealth. Financial wellness is reflective of each individual’s situation, rather than a measure of wealth or consumer sentiment, a trap many people in western society fall into.
CoreData research found that of the employers who observed financial wellness in their workplace, 63.3% could identify stressed employees; 43.3% noticed unengaged/distracted employees and 30.0% saw low morale. Loss in productivity is a major problem for employers across the country face and a major drag on the profitability of businesses. Across the Australian economy, the cost of these factors is approximately $33 billion each year.
Based on the research conducted, employers who invest in their team’s financial wellness saw a significant improvement (60.0%) in their wellness and in turn, performance at work. These improvements have material impacts on morale and productivity in the workplace. Levels of engagement, productivity and discretionary effort are five times higher than those who have financial stress.
We see numerous programmes implemented to improve general wellness of employees, which are orchestrated by HR and Corporate Culture divisions who are actively involved in investing and developing their teams.These exercises / programmes vary, be they online or physical programmes such as yoga, cooking & meditation. Read more in this article about how yoga helps you increase mental, emotional and physical fitness.
When it comes to financial wellbeing, this has typically been left to remuneration committees, and normally falls into the standard bonus / dividend / profit schemes. In this current economic environment this has been challenging where companies are in many instances going sideways, at best, or backwards.
At Charter Finance, we take a wellness approach with our clients and their mortgages through our mortgage mapping programme for employees to help ensure they stay or become financially well which does not cost the companies (or their teams) anything.
This programme allows employees who have a mortgage, to manage it as effectively as possible, as well as providing a plan for those who are yet to get onto the property ladder. Giving these team members a sense of control is viewed as a critical step in improving their overall financial wellness and happiness in the workplace.
There is so much going on in the lives of your team members. Reducing any financial stress they may have allows them to live easier lives and be more productive both in and out of the workplace.
About
Dean is the Managing Director of Charter Finance, a credit advisory and mortgage broking business whose mission is to ensure that every dollar their clients invest into property delivers the best long term result as possible for them.
Dean has a background in law, commerce, banking and property development, with an extensive experience in residential and commercial debt finance. He is often engaged by major companies to have Charter Finance manage their staff's mortgages as an added benefit to their staff, given its in most situations, both their biggest asset but also their biggest liability.
