So, you’ve assembled a brilliant benefits package for your employees. Whether you’ve gone for shopping discounts, gym memberships, an Employee Assistance Programme, or free fruit in the kitchen, you’ve chosen benefits that are going to make your employees happier, healthier and more productive. But is something missing? This blog explores how you can enhance employee benefits with financial wellbeing.
More and more employers are starting to realise that, while traditional perks play a valuable role, they don’t always address one of the biggest stressors employees face: money.
That’s where financial wellbeing comes in. It’s all about helping employees feel more confident and in control of their money – now and in the future.
Despite its importance, financial wellbeing is still often overlooked in employee benefits strategies. Many employers either aren’t sure what solutions are available, or underestimate just how much money stress is affecting their teams.
In fact, only 24% of UK employers currently rank it as a top priority, while 59% of employees say it’s the one area they most want support in.
This blog outlines the business case for integrating financial wellbeing into your wider benefits offer, and how to get started with a solution that works for you and your employees.
Table of contents
What is financial wellbeing?
Wellbeing encompasses employee health and happiness – both of which can have a huge impact on their stress levels and productivity. Financial wellbeing may be a subset, but don’t let that fool you. It’s absolutely a key facet that can underpin overall levels of success and satisfaction.
And it’s not just about money in the bank. Financial wellbeing can depend on lots of factors, which we’ve condensed into four traits:
- Financial resilience: the ability to withstand shocks and changes and having the appropriate resources to weather emergencies
- Money management: developing positive day-to-day money behaviours, such as saving, investing and spending
- Money mindset: a person’s beliefs and attitude towards money
- Future planning: preparing for life’s milestones, including retirement
How to enhance employee benefits with financial wellbeing
A good financial wellbeing platform does more than just tick a benefits box – it provides employees with real support, all in one place. With a platform like Maji, you can offer:
- A digital hub for money management: Tools like financial planners, budget builders, and pension tracking help employees take control of their finances at every life stage.
- Tax savings schemes: Salary sacrifice solutions like pension contributions or workplace nursery schemes help employees boost take-home pay and reduce employer NI bills – savings that can be reinvested into broader wellbeing support.
- Access to financial education: Employees can learn about everything from budgeting and debt to investing and retirement planning, with content tailored to different needs.
- 1:1 support from trusted financial experts: From regulated financial advisers to mortgage brokers and money coaches, employees can get personalised advice when they need it most.
- Savings and affordable loans: Support your team with emergency savings pots, payroll-linked loans, or access to ethical credit, helping them avoid high-cost borrowing.
- Everyday shopping discounts: Help stretch your employees’ pay further with cashback, deals, and discounts on groceries, travel, tech, and more.
- Everything in one place: No more juggling multiple platforms. Maji brings financial tools, content, experts, and products together – with insights for employers to measure impact.
- Employer data insights: A financial wellbeing solution gives employers aggregated, anonymous data based on their employees habits, interest and uptake of schemes offered. This data is a game-changer for businesses wanting to measure success of their benefits schemes.
Addressing the fundamentals of mental and physical health
We know that poor financial wellbeing can have a detrimental impact on mental health. After all, money worries are a major source of stress for many people.
If you’re investing money in supporting employee mental health, perhaps through an EAP, counselling app, or just a more flexible work-life balance, you need to consider financial wellbeing as a complementary service. Preventing employees from getting to the point of needing therapy to deal with issues like debt or retirement worries can only be a good thing! And adding financial coaching, for example, can provide a more specialised port of call than a general assistance hotline.
Poor financial wellbeing can also affect physical health. In the most extreme cases, low funds and/or high debt could lead to lack of nutritious food, lack of access to exercise solutions, and even issues with housing causing poor sleep or exposure to extreme temperatures. Even if employees aren’t at the point of struggling for cash, worrying about money can lead to signs of stress like headaches or disrupted sleep.
So if you’ve added physical health benefits like gym membership, health insurance or vitamin-packed lunches to your roster, remember that a strong financial wellbeing solution can shore up these efforts.
Helping employees make the most of your investment
Benefits aren’t always cheap. As an employer, you’re committing to spending hard-earned money on your employees to make sure they’re feeling great and performing well. But how can you make sure they really ‘get the benefit’?
An effective financial wellbeing strategy will highlight those benefits that can make a difference to various aspects of employees’ financial lives. Let’s take everyday spending. A discounts package is a common choice for employers: offering 10% off a supermarket shop can be a great way to make employees feel valued and save money, for example. But employees need to remember to access the discount, and need to understand exactly what they’re getting out of it to make it a habit.
Integrating your discounts package into support for budgeting and other financial planning can help employees use the vouchers more effectively. For example, Maji’s spending planner gives employees the tools to track their spending digitally across a range of categories, as well as breaking down the stats for different vendors. Got a deal for Sainsbury’s? Maji highlights where employees could have saved money in their groceries tab, with the monetary impact automatically calculated.
No more vague emails asking colleagues to check their discounts app. Maji gives it to them straight: £20 potential savings at Sainsbury’s this month.
Taking benefits beyond the office
While many employee benefits focus on their experience at work, financial wellbeing goes well beyond the office. It can even help support employees when they stop working for you and retire.
For example, introducing key salary sacrifice schemes like workplace nursery and pension can help employees save on their National Insurance. With the workplace nursery scheme, this can help lower one of the most significant costs that families can face. With a workplace pension, this can give employees a small pay boost while encouraging them to save for tomorrow. You might also consider some other changes to your pension arrangement, like a matching scheme, to increase the amount you’re investing in your employees’ futures.
Helping employees plan financially for the long term is also a fantastic benefit that extends far beyond the office. You could do this through giving them access to digital tools like Maji, which puts the power of both budgeting and forecasting in their hands. Financial coaching sessions might be another way you help employees get to grips with their money.
What to look for in a financial wellbeing provider
A financial wellbeing solution isn’t just a nice-to-have: it’s an essential part of supporting your employees. And it can increase the value of your benefits package, too – improving engagement, retention, and productivity across the board.
Three key features that turn a good financial wellbeing solution into a great one:
- Affordability – a cost-effective solution that supports your whole team, not just the highest earners
- Hyper-personalisation – tailored guidance and journeys based on each employee’s unique financial situation
- Real-time insights and nudges – action-based prompts to help employees stay on track and build positive habits
Working with a financial wellbeing provider like Maji can help. Maji’s expertise and features allows you to build out your offering for employees with wellbeing at the core. The app allows employees to access a range of planning tools and educational resources that can amplify the impact of your other benefits. And you can even add coaching for personalised, 1:1 support.
If you want to find out more about how to enhance employee benefits with financial wellbeing, get in touch with Maji today.
