Financial stress is the emotional (and often physical) tension centered around money. People suffering from financial stress tend to worry about how they’ll pay their bills, manage their debts, or save up for a future with the paychecks that they’re receiving.
As an employer, you should try to minimize financial stress for your employees as much as possible. Why is that?
Diminished Productivity
Your employees won’t do a good job when they’re stressed about money. They’re going to be thinking about their bills, their mounting debts, or how they’re going to afford any emergency expense that comes their way. Those thoughts are going to be running around their head during meetings and when they’re sitting at their desk. It’s going to be a major distraction.
Employee Moonlighting
Employees may take on second or third jobs to resolve their financial issues. These other jobs could take up their energy, drain their creativity and conflict with their schedule at your workplace.
Lower Employee Retention
Employees might not try moonlighting to resolve their financial issues. They might look for a higher-paying full-time job to replace this one and gain more financial security. Currently, employees across the country are joining the Great Resignation in order to find opportunities that offer higher incomes and better benefits.
If you’re worried about your level of employee retention, you need to consider the fact that financial stress could be driving people out of your workplace.
So, what can you do to minimize financial stress for your employees?
Pay Increases
Of course, one of the simplest ways to reduce financial stress is to increase your workers’ pay so that everyday expenses are more manageable. Salary increases should account for inflation rates. Otherwise, the pay rise will not make much of a difference with their everyday expenses.
Emergency Savings Accounts
As an employer, you could provide your employees with the option of an emergency savings account (ESA). If your employees sign onto this feature, they will agree to automatically deduct a portion of their paychecks to transfer into their ESA.
Without an ESA, it can be difficult to manage emergency expenses without disrupting your regular budget. Without a stash of savings, you might have to rely on alternative payment methods like emergency loans to cover those expenses. As long as you meet the application requirements for an emergency loan, you can send in an online application. If it’s approved, you can access the funds you need to resolve the emergency and move forward. Then, you’ll need to follow a repayment plan.
On-Demand Pay
On-demand pay is a payroll structure allowing employees to access funds that they’ve earned before the official “payday.” This is another useful feature for emergency situations. If an employee doesn’t have enough in an ESA or personal emergency fund, they could use their on-demand pay to get the funds they need to manage an urgent expense in a short amount of time.
Benefits
Certain benefits can reduce the financial burden of essentials like childcare costs and medical bills. With a comprehensive benefits plan, employees don’t have to worry so much about covering these essentials entirely out of pocket. It will give them savings to direct to other important expenses — or at the very least, give them less debt to contend with.
Financial stress is something employers have the power to fix. Make some changes and watch your workplace change for the better.