REWARD
to start. It’s vital to acknowledge that moments of financial crisis can impact anyone, it’s not a reflection of their character or competence, and that you can be there to guide or listen when a challenge happens. Support Consider appointing a ‘financial first aider’. Traditional workplaces had first aiders, many workplaces started to have mental health first aiders and forward-thinking workplaces now also appoint financial first aiders. Financial first aiders can discuss a person’s financial situation in general terms before suggesting sources of independent, impartial financial guidance, and they’re available on a confidential basis. They offer a great point of contact for individual line managers to make referrals to as well. Information Provide easy access to a trusted source of financial education. The Money and Pensions Service ‘Money Helper’ offers free, up to date educational resources which are easy to understand. You could embed a link to this information in a place your employees regularly visit too. Savings Having a savings buffer is one of the best indicators that an individual is financially resilient, but many struggle to save, especially in challenging economic times. Payroll-based automated savings offer the most effective way for individuals to get into the habit of making savings. With the right technology, payroll savings are very easy to set up, enabling individuals to build a savings buffer and protect themselves from high cost credit and / or debt. Emergency cash This one is particularly important for people who don’t have a savings buffer they can draw from to cover unexpected expenses. Enabling individuals to access a proportion of their accrued pay can prevent them from having to turn to high- cost credit. You may also hear this referred to as earned wage access. Pick your supplier carefully here – many standalone offerings rely on the revenue
generated from charges paid by the employee when they access their cash. Looking at a solution fully integrated with payroll should mean that your team are able to access their own cash in a financial emergency without paying a penalty when they’re most vulnerable. Pensions awareness Visibility of pension pot balances, and what that’s likely to translate to in later life, is still not widely available, particularly to low- and middle-income workers. The government’s pensions dashboards initiative is a step forward to close this gap but with that unlikely to be widely available any time soon, it’s worth reviewing what else is on offer in the market to support building that awareness.
Sadly, not all of them genuinely have employee well-being at the heart of their offerings. Do your research thoroughly to ensure you aren’t entering into a partnership which could result in the supplier profiting from vulnerable users, creating emphasis on unhelpful tools. Launch your new tools and approach with a big bang, and maintain focus on them If you have an employee engagement manager, this can be another great cross- functional opportunity and helps ensure payroll is seen as a vital tool to engage employees. There are lots of initiatives that run throughout the year including: l Savings Week l Talk Money Week l Pension Awareness Day l Debt Awareness Week. Consider investing in initiatives which incentivise employees to make the most of the tools on offer. For example, you could use Savings Week to launch a savings bonus to people who are repeatedly contributing to their savings pots. In a nutshell, payroll has the potential to be a hugely impactful driver of positive employee engagement. Don’t be the type of employer that implements a financial well-being strategy as a tick box exercise. It’s becoming increasingly easy to spot the employers committed to making a difference and it’s no wonder they’re the ones hiring and retaining brilliant, productive people. This is the future of payroll. n “It’s becoming increasingly easy to spot the employers committed to making a difference and it’s no wonder they’re the ones hiring and retaining brilliant, productive people”
A safeguarding policy Before you engage in any financial
well-being strategy, take some time to understand more about vulnerable users, so how to identify them and what you might want to do if someone’s identified as struggling. This is a great place to also outline partners you may want to work alongside to support those individuals, such as StepChange for free, impartial debt advice. Wrap up the tools in a way that has maximum impact We’ve all been there – we’ve seen a new employee benefit launched, only to flop due to a lack of engagement. The key to success with financial resilience tools is to ensure they’re easily accessible. One effective way to do this is to launch tools which are already embedded in your payroll process and can be made available to employees via their payroll app. It makes sense for them to have all the tools they need to effectively manage their income in one place. Consider what your existing payroll supplier can offer to support these tools in a way that maximises engagement. Pick suppliers and partners carefully Financial well-being has become a somewhat overused phrase, with many businesses jumping on the bandwagon.
Resources Money Helper – for guides on how to approach talking about money and tonnes of educational resources: http://ow.ly/4bNK50OlmCU PayCaptain benefits entitlement online checker: http://ow.ly/GqlJ50OlmF8.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 91 | June 2023
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