Financial Education Incentives for Your Staff

For many employers, it feels like there is a war trying to fight for the best talent. If you are wanting to beat your competitors, it is time to start thinking about what perks you could offer your new hires and ways to retain your staff. This includes paying more attention to the financial well-being of your employees.

Some employers are starting to offer financial-wellness programs to help educate individuals. As the cost of living rises, many workers are looking to their companies for assistance.

For example, according to TIAA’s 2022 Financial Wellness Survey, more than half (51%) of Americans think employers have a responsibility to assist them with maintaining and improving their financial well-being.

There is a rise in concern for employees’ financial well-being as it grew from 25% to 34% in recent years. For employers not currently offering wellness benefits, around half of these companies are at least interested in implementing financial wellness benefits at some point for their workers.

It is important to note that these initiatives have been found very beneficial for staff. For example, the TIAA survey found that for those employees that were able to participate in a financial-wellness program, they were twice as likely to have a high financial-wellness rating compared to those who were not offered any resources or chose to not participate.

You may want to consider how adding a financial wellness program could help retain top talent as this incentive has definitely been found to be beneficial. For example, of those who participated in a program, roughly 54% believed to be confident that they will be able to retire when they want, compared to the 32% who did not participate. Besides this, 50% of survey participants believed they would not run out of money during retirement while only 29% of nonparticipants believed this.

If you are unable to offer a full educational program, you might also consider offering webinars to help improve employees’ financial knowledge. According to EBRI, the estimated 401(k) contribution levels jumped between $649 to $988 the year after a worker attended a financial well-being webinar.

Financial education is also beneficial to employers. The 2018 Financial Health Network Survey found that almost three-quarters of workers that have high financial stress indicated that this distracts them from their duties at work. This survey also found that 60% of workers indicated they would more likely want to stay at their current position if their employer offered financial-wellness benefits.

As an employer if you are looking for ways to add value for your staff and are wanting to attract new talent, you might want to consider how adding a financial-wellness program could not only benefit your employees but also your business.