Financial wellness platform can help drive your talent strategy
“How long will my savings last if I no longer have a job?” I bet this question crossed your mind at least once in the last 2 years. Our survey among 2000 employed and 500 currently unemployed Indians suggests that 90% of the people felt that their savings will not last 6 months. Most people today don’t feel financially protected and the recent downturn has only made these fears worse.
Aside from the usual salary and bonus, do companies need to provide further support for their employees’ financial well-being? Well! Most companies are themselves struggling either to create demand for their products at the desired price or to manage the rising input costs. So the question in the mind of every business owner & HR is the most obvious one. How much will this support for financial wellbeing cost me and how much overhead would it consume?
But even before we get to the topic of costs and operational bandwidth, HR should be asking themselves if they know what the employees want. Each employer should conduct its own survey but our survey results are clear about the top 3 trends
More Flexibility in work from home arrangements, ability to take additional gigs in spare time & leave schedule
Health insurance to cover parents & in-laws
On-demand pay, low cost loans & saving incentives
Benefits like free food, gym memberships, transportation have fallen off the list of priorities.
However HR & business owners face a tough choice. Flexibility is great but how does one ensure productivity at the same time. Insurance for elderly can be expensive. We feel the only trend that is a no-brainer for organizations is the last one. Providing on-demand wage to employees is actually quite easy and the right thing to do. There are platforms that can connect with the payroll and provide access to salaries as they are earned instead of the wait for the month end pay schedule. Moreover connecting to the payroll allows lenders to provide competitive longer term loans as well.
We did an interesting experiment with one of our client companies. We requested them to include on-demand pay as one of the key benefits in the jobs that they were posting for recruitment. The candidates were then asked to recall the most interesting thing from the job post. A staggering 45% recalled the on-demand pay as the most interesting aspect of the post. Clearly one aspect of the financial wellness platform is resonating with potential recruits.
A well crafted financial wellness platform can have even a bigger impact on the diversity candidates. It is common knowledge that females and other minority groups value support much more and a balanced wellness program covering physical, mental & financial wellness gets much more appreciated by them.
We help our client organization administer a survey to determine the current state of their employee value proposition (EVP) and ways to improve it. Reach out to us at care@myfinfi.com to know more.