During the recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference, HR professionals from around the world engaged in discussions around hot topics including improving employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity, as well as establishing positive company culture. In order to increase workplace satisfaction, considerable focus was placed on strategies to ensure employees feel supported, happy, and healthy—both in the office and at home. With finances now a leading stressor for most employees, financial wellness has become a significant component to improving productivity and retention rates.
 
Missed SHRM? Here are five key financial wellness takeaways from this year’s conference:
 
#1 – Employee wellness should be approached holistically
 
Emerging within the last decade, employer wellness programs have risen to a point where now more than 70 percent of organizations offer some type of employee wellness program. Despite the new technology and insights that have led to improved employee wellness strategies, resources, and tools, financial stress has been generally overlooked.
 
What might an employee wellness program look like if it considered financial stress the same way it does smoking, sugar, or obesity? There are documented correlations between financial stress and health risks (including anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and substance abuse). With this in mind, employers must take a more holistic approach to employee wellness by considering physical, mental, social, and financial health.
 
#2 – Financial stress is a productivity killer
 
According to a recent Bank of America study, an overwhelming 56 percent of employees say they feel stressed about their financial situation. Among those employees, more than 50 percent note the stress they feel about money interferes with their ability to be productive at work and maintain the focus necessary to perform required job functions. As an increasing number of Millennials—a generation riddled with student debt—enters the workforce, the impact of financial anxiety will only continue to grow.
 
In addition to its negative impact on employee productivity, financial stress poses a major threat for employers if not properly addressed. Such stressors can have a huge effect on employees’ health and overall well-being, thus impacting an organization’s bottom line. With eighty-six percent of employees in BoA’s study indicating they would participate in a financial education program if one was offered by their employer, it is clear that financial wellness should no longer be viewed as an optional benefit. Instead, it should be a vital resource in workplace benefits packages.
 
#3 – Financial wellness should be ever-evolving
 
Just as every employee is different, so are their financial stories, so it is crucial that employee financial wellness evolves with employees as they move through life’s stages. If employers seek the highest employee engagement within their financial wellness programming, they must provide solutions that empower every employee through personalized guidance. This should include the ability to help employees control spending, build up their savings, and reach specific financial milestones (like saving for retirement or paying off loans).
 
Additionally, employers should ensure their financial wellness programming is scalable, so it can grow and adapt as the organization grows, and sets and achieves new goals. Program support is also a huge component to ensuring employees remain engaged in a financial wellness benefit program, particularly for new employees or those going through major life changes, such as marriage or the birth of a child.
 
#4 – Embrace current benefit offerings
 
Don’t forget to include all of your company’s benefits offerings in your financial wellness program, including the retirement plan, HSA, and voluntary benefits. Far too often, these benefits are not unified with financial wellness programs, which can cause confusion and hinder employee engagement in these important programs.
 
Employers can avoid these pitfalls by taking the time to create communication campaigns and rewards for engagement. Such efforts will help employees better understand how their benefits can help improve their overall financial picture. This widened-scope excites and motivates employees to take an active role in their financial decisions.  
 
#5 – Tracking engagement is the secret to success
 
For an organization’s financial wellness program to succeed, company leadership and HR representatives must be able to track employee engagement as it happens. The only way employers can identify and address any issues in their financial wellness programming is by monitoring how engaged employees are—as well as how far they’ve come in progressing toward individual and company goals.
 
The ability to quickly and easily determine engagement rates demonstrates how employers have lowered financial stress within their teams, which is an invaluable way to showcase ROI. Employers should also take advantage of the full scope of resources offered by their financial wellness solution, which could include automated communications with employees and financial content libraries for continued employee learning.
 
With these takeaways in mind, it is clear that financial wellness is here to stay. Employers are seeing the effects of financial stress on their employees and, as a result, their business. Only by making overall employee wellness a top HR priority will organizations be able to guarantee financial stress doesn’t significantly impact retention and productivity. In addition to improving productivity and job satisfaction rates, offering the knowledge and tools employees need to succeed with their finances vastly improves employees’ overall happiness and quality of life.
 
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Author Bio
Chris Whitlow is the founder and CEO of Edu(k)ate, a workplace financial wellness provider with a mission to give every person access to expert financial guidance. Chris works with the Edu(k)ate team to solve problems that ease the financial stress a majority of Americans experience each day. Edu(k)ate helps employers provide the best financial wellness benefits, thus helping employees manage their financial stress, increase their productivity, and live happier, healthier lives.
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