I’ve recently been hosted by Matteo Sola on a new episode of the podcast “Wellbeing Revolution” (available on Spotify, sponsored by trainect).
In this episode we discussed one topic that is not always seen as a priority in Wellbeing programs: economic safety.
From my experience, economical issues are one of the main areas of concern for many employees, especially frontline workers. Low salary or overall low income, unstable work conditions, early career stage issues (like debt repayments), raising costs, are all ingredients that often affect employees especially at young age.
This can typically create stress and anxiety, often leading to productivity impacts. In some cases these issues can transform in health problems. Rarely, these issues are also at the basis of unethical behaviors (such as theft).
I’m all for avoiding paternalism in these situations. It’s not for a company to invade the personal space of its collaborators. But there are multiple tools that as a company, you can provide to employees.
- Counseling services. Depending on the country these can take different forms, but in general these services try to help people in solving their issues (like debt), by providing education and external resources support.
- Economic assistance. In the form of cash advancement, loans etc. It would be best to always link these initiatives to some form of counseling, to avoid multiplying problems rather than solving them.
There is an area, which for me is critical, also on the role of HR in monitoring potential economic issues. How? Often payroll is a prime source of information linked to loans with direct payments, garnishments, attachments of earnings orders and so on (different legislations manage these differently, essentially I am referring to all those cases where part of the employee wage is used to repay debts or loans through direct payment). Although there important data protection concerns in addressing individual conversations based on these information, aggregated can show if a segment of the population is particularly affected by debt, and allows to intercept issues.
Developing programs that can support employees through their financial difficulties, is in my point of view a great way to impact positively the lives of employees in moment of needs. It is for sure part of the Duty of Care for HR, in an area that can be very impactful.
But, Financial Education is not only for the people that are under financial stress. It is also a good way to support people as they go through their life events, anticipating potential issues for example for what concerns their pension, or their possibility to approach a sabbatical period, and so on.
Overall a very interesting conversation, which I hope you have enjoyed.
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