<small>Introduction</small><br>
How lockdown highlighted the urgent need for financial wellbeing
How lockdown highlighted the urgency for financial wellbeing
Like everyone else, we have had to adapt to a new way of working since the pandemic struck.
Happily, transacting, communicating and meeting virtually was a relatively smooth transition.
But this shift caused us to wonder: how has it affected our clients?
Companies big and small, people who come to us for pensions advice and financial management; how have they fared?
Aside from our day-to-day contact, we thought a survey would help everyone grasp common concerns and make sense of a shared experience.
So, after polling more than 300 businesses, in partnership with HR Magazine, we have formed a view of how the pandemic has affected organisations, from HR directors to front line staff.
As you’ll read, financial wellbeing is the key finding.
Eight out of ten employers felt their company and employees would benefit from being better informed in all things financial.
That said, few knew where to begin to create the conditions to make wellbeing more achievable.
Our chief executive, Jonathan Punter, summarised the research: “It’s no surprise that wellbeing in general has been at the forefront of everyone’s mind during this time.
“Employers know it matters, but don’t know how to make it happen. Fear of falling foul of regulation and uncertainty over how much it will cost have also been plainly highlighted.
“For more than the last 30 years, we’ve been helping companies and people put together the components to help build fundamental wellbeing. Our survey demonstrates trusted partners have a more important role than ever to play.”
We also found how flexible working was at the top of the list for companies as they grapple with what the future holds.
Take a few minutes to read the survey headlines. As ever, we’re always happy to talk.
"Employers know financial wellbeing matters, but don’t know how to make it happen."
Jonathan Punter, CEO, Punter Southall
Part one
How are companies coping with covid and what does that mean for financial wellbeing?
Part two
Can you do it by yourself? Plotting the next steps towards meeting the wellbeing need.
<smalL>Part one</small>
Pandemic impact: has wellbeing suffered?
We assess the priority businesses give to providing benefits for their people and take the temperature of the pandemic's effect on our lives at work.
Pandemic impact: has wellbeing suffered?
In this section
- What do you believe to be the most important employee benefits your company provides?
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Do you believe that your employees would feel comfortable approaching their line managers if they were experiencing any financial difficulties?
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Do you feel that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the importance of, and need for, better understanding and support for financial wellbeing in the workplace?
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What do you think your employees are most worried about due to the Covid-19 pandemic?
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As an employer, what do you think are the adverse outcomes of employees suffering from poor financial wellbeing?
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Which age group of your employees do you believe is the most affected by poor financial wellbeing?
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Do you believe your company would benefit if employees were given an opportunity to learn more about financial matters such as mortgages, savings, insurance, and retirement planning?
1. What do you believe to be the most important employee benefits your company provides?
Overall, flexible working, pensions, together with help for financial decision-making - in the form of an employee assistance programme - were the top three “most important company benefits” in our survey.
But companies employing more than 200 people made “pensions” their top answer for this section.
It’s clear that all three areas, when taken as a whole, play a significant part in financial wellbeing. Our research suggested that, while there’s general agreement that employers have a part to play, they are unsure of what steps to take to deliver, as the rest of the survey demonstrates.
Out of the top three, which do you think is the most important benefit your company provides?
- Flexible working
- Pensions
- EAP/helpline
2. Do you believe that your employees would feel comfortable approaching their line managers if they were experiencing any financial difficulties?
In this case, just over half (52 per cent) of employees don’t feel comfortable asking their line manager for help if they have money worries. Given the deeply personal and often troubling nature of financial affairs, this isn’t particularly surprising: how much understanding and support can operational managers really offer?
The realistic solution - and the thread running through this survey’s results - is to work with a partner whose dayjob is specialising in this field.
3. Do you feel that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the importance of, and need for, better understanding and support for financial wellbeing in the workplace?
It would seem so, as 86 per cent agreed this was the case, making it a visible priority. Doubtless it’s always been important but the trials of the pandemic may just have brought it into sharper focus.
Does it raise the possibility that companies will be retooling what they offer in this area? How will they go about it?
“Helping people understand how financial wellbeing can help them is at the heart of what we do. What can be stressful and complicated becomes approachable and straightforward.”
Alan Morahan, Managing Director, Employee Benefits
Punter Southall Aspire
4. What do you think your employees are most worried about due to the Covid-19 pandemic?
Our respondents ranked health, work, debt and wellbeing as the top four areas about which they were most concerned in the wake of covid. Interesting that wellbeing is seen as a separate area or question when it really encompasses the impact of the first three answers (and more).
We think this reinforces the need to articulate what financial wellbeing really means and hope this survey contributes to that debate.
5. As an employer, what do you think are the adverse outcomes of employees suffering from poor financial wellbeing?
Employers across the spectrum clearly identified the main consequence as stressed staff - 97.7 per cent - and the attendant impacts of reduced productivity, not turning up for work and affecting relationships with clients.
6. Which age group of your employees do you believe is the most affected by poor financial wellbeing?
Thirty-five per cent said it affected all ages; 32 per cent selected said 18-30 year-olds suffered the most while 30 per cent said it was the 31-50 group.
Interestingly, three per cent said it was those older than 51: an age when finances are, for example, often squeezed by grown-up children at university and caring for elderly parents.
Does only three per cent represent a blind spot?
7. Do you believe your company would benefit if employees were given an opportunity to learn more about financial matters such as mortgages, savings, insurance, and retirement planning?
Eighty per cent said their company would benefit if employees could learn more about these financial services.
If just over half don’t want to talk to their manager about it (see question 2), feel that covid has made this more urgent (question 4) and that staff are stressed (question 5), how can this benefit be delivered in a way in which they feel comfortable?
We think this is where the thread that runs through this survey - the clear demand for informed, professional support but uncertainty about how to provide it - becomes clearly visible.
So, what needs to happen to create a future in which we all agree that wellbeing is critical and identify the obstacles on the way?
<small>Part two</small>
Financial future: planning for tomorrow
What needs to happen to create a future in which we all agree that wellbeing is critical and identify the obstacles on the way?
Financial future: planning for tomorrow
In this section
8. Who do you think should take responsibility for educating and engaging employees on financial matters such as mortgages, savings, insurance, and retirement planning?
9. How important do you feel your duty is to provide education and guidance to your employees to support their financial wellbeing
10. Do you currently offer any financial education/support/wellbeing to your employees?
11. Does your business provide any pre-retirement or financial guidance to employees approaching the age when they can access their pension pots (age 55+)?
12. Are you aware of what you can do to support your employees’ financial wellbeing?
13. What financial guidance, support or advice do you believe would be most beneficial for your employees to receive?
14. Do you believe that your business would have any concerns about providing employees with access to financial support, education and advice provided by an external financial adviser
15. Why do you have concerns?
8. Who do you think should take responsibility for educating and engaging employees on financial matters such as mortgages, savings, insurance, and retirement planning?
These results point to a disconnect. While employers agree it will help their people and, ultimately, their organisation, most see it as the personal responsibility of their staff first and foremost. After that, it is seen as something companies and government should shoulder.
9. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being the most important), how important do you feel your duty is to provide education and guidance to your employees to support their financial wellbeing?
Starkly, only one per cent of respondents felt it was important for them, as an employer, to fill in the evident gap for their staff to access financial well being. Collectively, 83 per cent did not see it as a business priority. While this is at odds with our headline finding that companies value financial well being as a benefit for their people, it does explain why organisations struggle to define and deliver what it is.
10. Do you currently offer any financial education/support/wellbeing to your employees?
Starkly, 50.5 per cent do but 49.5 per cent do not. There’s a fair amount of detail in the responses, ranging from tailored sessions, employee assistance programmes and pre-retirement sessions. But that’s only from half the companies questioned.
Of those businesses that do offer guidance to employees, for the majority this takes the form primarily of employee assistance programmes. However support also comes in the form of workshops, free access to financial advice, sessions on pensions and more. The word cloud below illustrates some of the buzzwords used by respondents to this question.
11. Does your business provide any pre-retirement or financial guidance to employees approaching the age when they can access their pension pots (age 55+)?
The majority (61 per cent) don’t but 40 per cent do, largely in partnership with advisors, brokers or pension scheme managers. Why are these methods not deployed by other companies?
12. Are you aware of what you can do to support your employees’ financial wellbeing?
Just under one in three (29 per cent) said they had a firm idea and the resources to help their staff but the majority either didn’t feel it was their responsibility (five per cent) or had little idea of where to start.
Again, this speaks to the dominant theme that while employers backed better access and greater understanding of financial matters for their employees, they remained unsure of what to do to make it happen.
“Wellbeing is notoriously hard to define - unless you’ve been helping companies for years to get to grips with it.
There’s no substitute for experience when it comes to shaping someone’s financial life.”
Alan Morahan, Managing Director, Employee Benefits
Punter Southall Aspire
13. What financial guidance, support or advice do you believe would be most beneficial for your employees to receive?
Retirement planning, followed by debt management and savings advice were the top three. If all three were addressed with the right advice and infrastructure, how far would they go to making financial wellbeing a more concrete reality?
14. Do you believe that your business would have any concerns about providing employees with access to financial support, education and advice provided by an external financial adviser?
Better news for employees in that 63 per cent would not have any concerns in working with an external company to meet what appears to be evident demand for the above. If they’ve not already done so, what prevents them from putting the wheels in motion?
15. Why do you have concerns?
Of those who did, the main reasons were worries about the cost (61 per cent) and fear of falling foul of regulation (58 per cent).
Our only rejoinder to this would be: if you take care to work with the right advisor, they can ensure that these hazards are dealt with sensibly.
