REWARD
TOP TEN TIPS: DELIVERING SOUND MONEY GUIDANCE
Payroll professionals get asked for guidance on money but must always ensure they’re delivering this in the correct way and aren’t entering into the realm of advice. Anna Buckle, head of employee experience and financial well-being, PayCaptain , provides her tips for steering conversations around financial guidance
T here’s a massive gap when it comes to money advice – the wealthy can afford to pay for personalised advice to make their money grow, whereas the not so wealthy are left trying to navigate their stretched money with very little on offer to reliably support them and their particular circumstances. With this in mind it’s no surprise payroll professionals get asked for advice related to money. After all, we’re the facilitators of most people’s main income, so it would make sense that we know our way confidently around a tax calculation. But when anyone asks us for advice related to money, we must be really careful in how we respond to ensure we’re actually helping and not potentially putting someone in a more difficult position. Here are some points to help you guide the conversation and make sure your good intentions translate into a positive, helpful influence.
1.) Draw on your empathy If someone reaches out to you with a question related to their income, start off by making space for the person. As much as we may feel plagued sometimes by the volume of queries we receive, it’s important to call on your empathy and understand that the question may have come from a place of anxiety or even crisis. It’s not a huge surprise that there’s a strong correlation between those on lower incomes or with less disposable cash and the level of scrutiny they give to their pay. Someone asking lots of questions about where money has gone may be coming from a backdrop of not being able to make ends meet. Taking an empathetic, non-judgemental approach will make all the difference in how an employee feels coming to you for help and enable them to be as open and honest as possible.
your own experiences to help you but be careful of doing this in a financial conversation. You need to understand the employee’s entire position – what has worked for one person could be bad advice for another. Use of credit is a good example here. For some people credit can be a really useful tool, as they can pay their bills off each month in full and build their credit rating. For others, it can present a damaging option, buying groceries to get by on Klarna one month could land them in a deficit budget once the repayments kick in, starting a cycle of debt which may be difficult for them to get back out of. 3.) Listen to understand With high anxiety potentially being a backdrop to the conversation, always ensure you’re in a position to offer the person your full attention and listen thoughtfully. Make sure you understand their concern or query in detail, repeating it back to them is a useful approach here. You can use phrases like, “What I’m understanding is… does that sound accurate?” If you’re face-to-face, put your phone away so you aren’t distracted, if you’re having the conversation remotely then close your email – it’s actually really easy to tell when someone is reading something rather than giving you their full attention. No good conversation is had while one party is distracted.
2.) Rip up your frame of reference! It’s common in conversation to draw on
“When anyone asks us for advice related to money, we must be really careful in how we respond to ensure we’re actually helping and not potentially putting someone in a more difficult position”
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | May 2024 | Issue 100 38
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