Supporting younger employees with financial wellbeing

What benefits do a young workforce look for

First paycheque. Balancing nights out and paying rent. Aiming for promotion. You might remember the highs and lows of your first years in the workplace. Now you’re leading a workforce with young team members, you might be wondering how best to support them.

Financial wellbeing is a vital part of employees’ overall happiness at work. After all, money worries can cause high levels of stress, leading to time off work, low productivity, and low morale. Young employees can be particularly susceptible to stress and burnout. So, addressing their financial wellbeing can be an important way to support them. 

In this article, we’ll run through five key ways you can help younger employees with their financial wellbeing.

Help them with their payslip

It might seem simple when you’ve been in the workplace for some time, but a payslip contains lots of information that can be hard to follow when you’re new to it. For example, what’s the difference between gross pay and net pay? How can you see what’s been taken off for National Insurance, student loan repayments, and pension contributions? How do you know if you’re paying the right amount of tax?

MoneyHelper has a useful guide that can help you break this down for them. You could also do a ‘lunch and learn’ session or 1:1 support meeting (in-person or virtual) to give them time and space to run through their actual slips and ask questions. 

Support them with budgeting

Young employees making money for the first time may need support in managing this. For example, they might be tempted to splurge on nights out at the start of the month, leaving them struggling towards the end. Or, they might struggle to put money aside for savings, potentially leaving them with stresses and strains in the future.

You could introduce them to the 20/30/50 budgeting method, share a budget planning tool (like MoneyHelper’s) or introduce a digital spending planner like Maji’s. The advantage of Maji’s digital tool is its open banking function, which draws in information from the employee’s spending without requiring them to enter their details into a spreadsheet each month. 

Don’t forget the future

Young employees might be caught up in the here and now. That doesn’t mean they can forget the future! 

Your pension scheme is the best way to support them to save for the long term. After all, you are obliged to enroll them automatically (if they’re eligible). That represents the perfect opportunity to educate them about the importance of saving for tomorrow. 

While auto-enrolment has helped drastically increase the number of employees saving into a pension, the cost of living crisis has also seen rising numbers opting out. This can be tempting for young employees, who may prefer to have a bit of extra cash now, without realising how much they’re sacrificing. It could be worth considering how to help employees who want to opt out, perhaps with targeted resources and 1:1 support.

You can also help employees save more into their pensions. This can help increase their future security even further. Setting up a salary sacrifice pension arrangement for your company can also give them more take-home pay at the same time as cutting your National Insurance costs.

Use your benefits package wisely

As your company grows, you may be putting together your employee benefits package. It’s important to think about what your different types of employee really need – and younger employees are no exception. 

Young employees may prefer benefits such as discounted groceries, travelcard loans, and healthy living offers like gym discounts or health insurance. These can help them cut key costs and reduce financial stress.

Setting up a salary sacrifice pension scheme could be a good opportunity to unlock extra funds with the National Insurance savings you make as an employer. You could reinvest these into more benefits for your employees. 

Get personalised

Not all employees will have the same financial context, even if they’re the same age. Some younger employees may have family wealth behind them; others may be scraping together their pennies. Ideal financial wellbeing support will be personalised to their particular needs. 

Financial coaching could be a great way to support young employees. This isn’t just for high earners; there are many benefits for all kinds of people who may benefit from individual support. Coaches provide a safe space for employees to explore key questions and work out next steps. 

How a financial wellbeing provider can help

Enlisting the services of a financial wellbeing provider like Maji’s come with a range of benefits. When it comes to your tech-savvy young employees, a digital platform is the biggest win.

Here’s a glimpse into how Maji’s platform helps you build their financial wellbeing and lower their financial stress:

• A wealth of digital tools to help them understand and plan their finances.
• Education and engagement with both day-to-day spending and long-term financial planning.
• Integrated budgeting tools and discounts, making it easy for them to cut costs.
• Easy ways to save more into their pension and boost salary sacrifice savings. 
• Live chat, so you don’t need to spend time on their quick queries. 
• 1:1 financial coaching to help them shape their next steps.

Financial wellbeing for younger employees isn’t just about protecting them today, it’s about empowering the workforce you’ll rely on tomorrow. With Maji’s digital platform, coaching and tools, you can offer personalised, high-impact support that helps young employees feel in control of their money and confident in their future. 

If you want to build a stronger, more engaged and financially resilient workforce, you can book a free demo with our team.