The last few years have seen financial worries rocket. With the rising cost of living, high interest rates and increasing pressure to consume the latest luxuries, it’s no wonder people are feeling more stressed than ever. As many as 89% of employees find that financial stress is affecting them at work. And this can have a knock-on impact on productivity and happiness, with an estimated 8.4 million working days and £860m lost to UK businesses.
More and more employers are recognising the importance of addressing financial wellbeing to ease this stress for their workforce. At the same time, HR leaders and wellbeing managers need to do more with less as businesses also grapple with a tough economic climate.
So, you might be wondering – is financial coaching worth it? In this article, we’ll lay out the positive impact financial coaching can have, and how that can help you make the most of your budget.
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What is financial coaching?
Coaching is a personalised and collaborative process that sees a coach guide someone to identify goals, map out next steps, understand obstacles and make meaningful progress. The point is not to give someone the answers; coaching looks to help people ask the right questions and come up with solutions for themselves.
Employee financial coaching specifically examines money matters. People might come to coaching with a particular question or goal in mind, such as saving for a wedding, purchasing a property or getting out of debt. The coach will help them explore the context for this goal, such as the drivers and reasons behind it, the current financial situation and feelings surrounding the milestone. They might then discuss how to map out the journey towards the goal, and create frameworks for research and decision-making.
Coaching isn’t financial advice: the coach won’t give concrete recommendations about where to save or invest, or how to structure a pension, for example. But coaching sessions do offer a safe space to explore feelings around money and identify possible changes to habits and behaviours.
Why employers are paying attention to financial coaching
Because financial coaching is highly personalised and focused on identifying next steps, it can be a powerful catalyst for action. And action – whether that’s creating a budget, setting up a savings account or making a plan for retirement – can help employees feel less stressed and more in control. Not to mention, their financial situation can tangibly improve.
With this in mind, financial coaching can be a more powerful intervention than traditional methods like lectures or flyers. With the support of a coach, your employees can leave worries behind, so you should see a happier and more productive team.
Offering such a valuable intervention as a staff benefit can also help you recruit and retain the best employees. In the recruitment phase, cementing your workplace as one that truly cares could be the difference between snagging that in-demand candidate and them going to a competitor. As employees spend longer at your organisation, your investment in them as people can help them stay, keeping their expertise in the building. Overall, your brand as an employer comes across as positive and genuinely supportive.
For busy HR and wellbeing leads, financial coaching ROI also extends into your team. Offering coaching to your employees can reduce your workload. Questions about financial worries, including work-related issues like pension savings, can be routed through the coach, without you needing to dive too deeply into your employees’ personal lives. And coaches can also help employees engage with the other benefits you offer, too, such as discounts or enhanced pension contributions.
Is financial coaching worth it?
With all of this in mind, there’s arguably a strong commercial case for investing in financial coaching for your employees.
You are likely to see:
- Higher employee engagement from a happier, healthier workforce
- Immediate, visible impact on employees’ levels of financial stress
- Practical and measurable improvements in employees’ daily lives, as well as their future planning
- Better ROI on your other wellbeing benefits as employees use them to their full effect with the support of their coach
- A more positive employer brand that positions you as an organisation that doesn’t just pay lip service to wellbeing
Even if your wellbeing budget is getting smaller, coaching could help you do more with less, making a noticeable difference to employees and your business.
Setting up a successful financial coaching benefit
If you’re ready to see the powerful return on investment that financial coaching can offer, you’ll need to set up a coaching programme. While you can make arrangements with coaches yourself, contacting them all individually and negotiating terms and guidelines is hardly efficient. Using an external service like Maji to bring coaches and employees together can take the hassle out of running this benefit.
You may also want to bear the following things in mind when choosing a provider:
- Are the coaches experienced? Do they hold coaching qualifications?
- How many sessions do employees get?
- Are sessions truly personalised or do coaches need to follow a ‘script’?
- How easily can employees book a session?
- Are there other financial wellbeing tools and resources available alongside the coaching?
Maji’s digital-first approach embeds coaching into its suite of tools and resources, including open-banking transaction-tracking, financial planning and pension modelling.
To find out more about how financial coaching and the Maji app can work together to support your employees, schedule a chat with the team.
