There’s been a lot of talk about what employers can do to help retain team members. With the labor market struggling to keep up with demand, team members have every opportunity to get what they want from their employer. Let’s face it the best recruitment strategy is retention. One way that organizations have gone about retaining team members is by offering benefits. This approach has worked over the years, but now people are looking for more. Not necessarily more health insurance or money they will get once they retire. They are looking for a place to belong and a place where team members feel like someone cares about them personally.
A 2022 Smart Dollar Employee Benefit Study from Ramsey Solutions uncovered how team members feel about their wellness benefits. Smart Dollar is a Ramsey Solution program that is designed specifically to help team members at organizations. This study reports that 55% of employees say that they worry about their finances every day. It also reported that 25% of team members surveyed, have access to a financial wellness benefit from their employer. The other 75% of people said it was among the top benefits they wish they had.
It’s not a surprise that 38% of the employees say that having a financial wellness benefit had a significant impact on their personal finances. As a financial coach I see clients who go through Financial Peace University and work with a coach make the most progress, the fastest.
What was surprising to learn was that 60% of team members say that they feel behind in their retirement goals. This statistic begs a bunch of question. Does that mean, they think they need more than they have? Or does it mean that they don’t have a good understanding of what they have? Or does it mean that they don’t know if what they have is enough to cover their lifestyle once they retire?
With rising inflation, supply shortages, and the impact of the pandemic, nearly half, (46%) say that their mental health has impacted their ability to do their job to the best of their ability. I believe it! There’s a lot of unknowns right now.
I had an opportunity to do a webinar and podcast around this topic of Employee Wellness with Jon Maroni. We talked about ways to help team members through difficult times, both personally and financially.
Next week I will be conducting two personal finance workshops to team members of Rockwood Retirement Communities. I commend Rockwood Retirement Communities for thinking outside of the box when it comes to benefits and offerings that can truly change the lives of their team members.
If you’re looking for a unique benefit or way of showing you care about your team’s personal financial wellness, and we can talk about ways to do that!