Boosting Employee Retention with Financial Wellness Programs

Employee turnover can cause tremendous havoc for businesses. When employees leave, they take their knowledge of their job and their experience with them. This forces businesses to then hunt for a replacement and train the replacement, which is an investment in time and resources.

As the new employee is onboarded and becomes more adept at their role, there is also a learning curve. This creates a stressful and costly business environment.

In light of this situation, businesses generally want to do everything they can to reduce employee turnover. However, Gallup estimates that as much as 42% of turnover could be preventable, meaning businesses can take more steps than they currently do to reduce quitting.

Let’s examine the role of financial insecurity in job satisfaction and what businesses can do to improve their employees' situations—with support from a local partner like Candoor.

The Problem: Why Employees Leave

To prevent employees from quitting, it helps first to analyze the reasons why people say they leave their posts. Some commonly cited reasons for employee turnover include:

• A lack of recognition or feeling appreciated
• Inadequate compensation and benefits
• Lack of growth opportunities

Building a strong workplace culture and better benefits packages can help create better environments for your employees. Programs that help them manage financial stress can improve their overall satisfaction with your business..

What is a Financial Wellness Program?

A financial wellness program helps educate employees about financial literacy, such as various types of investments and savings accounts, how different interest rates work, and what different financial terms mean. When employees are empowered to understand all their options for saving and building their financial cushion, they can reduce the stress that comes with unexpected expenses.

Businesses that work to improve employees’ quality of life will increase their job satisfaction. When employees feel as though their businesses genuinely care about them and their well-being, it boosts retention rates and feelings of loyalty towards the organization.

Types of Financial Wellness Programs

If you want to start financial wellness programs at your company, you will quickly discover that you have a few different models available to you. Candoor can guide you through choosing the best approach for your team.

Educational Workshops and Resources as Employee Retention Strategies

Workshops are a common format for providing employees with financial literacy education. During these workshops, businesses can provide information about budgeting and saving to help employees improve their financial management. These courses can also delve into the benefits specifically offered at the company, so employees can take full advantage of the options they have available.

Organizations might consider using guest speakers or in-house experts to run effective workshops. The key is finding engaging speakers who can help employees at all levels of financial literacy and can answer complex questions accurately and with confidence.

Guidance and Coaching

Guidance and coaching provide an additional option for financial wellness education. With personalized financial coaching, employees have the option to meet with an expert one-on-one to discuss their financial situation, goals, and strategies available to reach those goals. These programs can help employees plan for long-term financial goals, such as retirement. They will gain a clearer picture of how their actions today impact their ability to retire on time.

You can offer these coaching sessions through in-house experts or external partnerships with professionals who provide financial counseling services.

Perks and Benefits

Finally, you might support your employees through more comprehensive benefits packages that can help reduce financial stress and improve their day-to-day lives. For example, offering stocked breakrooms, and even providing meals, can reduce employee costs. Similarly, offering mental health days so that employees can take a break when they need it can help them feel appreciated and valuable. Many employees also appreciate benefits in the form of childcare cost assistance, as these costs quickly add up for many employees and become a source of persistent financial stress.

ZayZoon’s Impact

ZayZoon helps companies like yours provide key financial wellness tools, such as the Earned Wage Access (EWA) feature. With EWA, employees can access the money they have already earned—without having to wait until payday.

Suppose an employee has unexpected car or medical bills. In that case, they can use this feature to pay off the bill instead of taking out a loan and incurring interest or stressing about putting food on the table until the next paycheck.

Implementation Tips

If you are ready to start a financial wellness program in your workplace, the first step is to determine the type of structure you want to use. Will you use workshops or more individual guidance? Will you incorporate a helpful tool like ZayZoon to help you maximize the perks you can offer your employees?

Once you know the structure of your program, you will need to consider who you will employ as the professional. Do you have in-house financial experts or will you need a partner?

Candoor takes the guesswork out of these decisions. We’ll help you choose the right tools, vendors, and strategies based on your business size, budget, and goals—and we’ll support you every step of the way.

Finally, make sure you advertise the program. Let people know about the new offering and why they should care about this program. Let them know about what it adds to their lives.

Conclusion

Financial wellness programs can improve people’s lives, their financial awareness, and their satisfaction with their workplace. Those interested in learning more and experiencing some of these benefits in their own workplace should reach out to us at Candoor. Learn more about our EWA through ZayZoon and the financial tools we offer. You can learn more about how these programs will work for your company or sign up right now to get started.