Despite some financial analysts reporting on an improving economy, everyday financial issues are still burdening an increasing majority of employees. Financial Wellness programs are not only smart investments for employers but in the current state of employee finances are becoming a necessity.  Keeping the workforce healthy strengthens productivity by reducing absenteeism and helps contain the rise in health care costs for the employer. 

Even in a good economy, individual financial wellness is important. For employers, the well being of employees is a critical component to success. The financial distress employees experience is just one more way a bad economy can impact your business. Most employers, as sponsors of retirement plans, have the fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of their employees. Employers can better manage their retirement plans by offering sponsored financial education to employees to promote sensible and responsible habits. Most companies see a clear connection between financial wellness and the work they are doing to proactively improve employee health wellness. And the majority of them believe financial stress has a negative impact on productivity even if it is difficult to measure directly through return-on-investment calculations. So how can you measure success; by using participation measures and metrics that evaluate changes in behaviors to determine the success of the efforts to promote financial wellness.

Financial Wellness is built on a solid habit of saving and investing. Although the benefits of savings are widely known and accepted, some individuals tend to view investing with skepticism.  Part of a Financial Wellness program’s goals should be to help dispel popular myths, uses simple language and illustrations to explain the common terms used in the investment industry.

According to PwC’s 2012 Financial Wellness Survey, when employees were asked about overall financial concerns, not having sufficient emergency savings for unexpected expenses was the most frequently cited concern with 32% of the responses, an increase over last year’s result of 25%

By taking advantage of workplace wellness offerings, employees are approaching their work with more energy and motivation. With Financial Wellness programs becoming more established in the workplace, the number of employees who appreciate and expect that their employer will offer these benefits is growing tremendously.
 
In a Boston College Center for Work & Family 2011 study, 58%of employees in the U.S. would like their employer to provide access to financial planners to help them make decisions about financial needs. Financially educated employees have the potential to:
  - Improve credit scores
  - Lower credit costs
  - Increase retirement savings
  - Increase “rainy day” savings
  - Reduce financial stresses
  - Increase personal confidence
  - Increase company loyalty

It’s our goal to provide value to employers and employees through financial wellness to properly prepare for any type of economy. There’s no question companies benefit from productivity and financial stress has serious effects on employee job performance that can hurt your bottom line!

Employees dealing with financial stress can often cost businesses with higher turnover rates, healthcare costs, and increased exposure to liability. workpays.me® provides financial education to employees in an effort to improve the workplace including increased productivity, employee morale, company loyalty and decreased healthcare costs. A key part of workpays.me® is to fund, through proceeds collected from our purchase program, one or more of the following Financial Wellness programs:
  - Credit counseling
  - Establishing of credit though a workpays.me® partner
  - College Scholarship Program for a family member or subsidizing furthering education cost for the employee
  - Establishing a savings account or contributions to the company 401(k) or 403(b) program
  - Legal Plans and Identity Theft Protection

Financial Education programs have the effect of contributing to the company’s bottom line between $3 & $4 for every dollar spent. Since the program is completely subsidized by workpays.me®, it costs the employer zero dollars & will have positive effects that resonate throughout the organization.

About workpays.me
Workpays.me LLC is a provider of an employee voluntary benefit offering a Financial Wellness program while helping offset traditional HR benefit costs for employers. The company serves both employers and employees through their ecommerce website which allows employers to provide their employees with a responsible, simple method to purchase name-brand products paying through flexible paycheck deductions. For more information on the workpays.me program, please visit www.workpays.me or email at info@workpays.me.