Free Workplace Financial Help – Employee Programs

If you are a CEO or business owner, you should know that a 2023 survey revealed that more than half of your employees – 57% to be exact – say finances were the No. 1 cause of stress in their lives.

The survey has been conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) since 2011 and financially stressed employees are at the top of the list of problems every year.

In fact, it’s not inconceivable that you may be among those who worry that their paycheck isn’t big enough to pay this month’s bills. After all, 45% of people making more than $100,000 say they often run out of money by the end of the month.

The question then is: What are you doing – companywide or individually – to relieve the strain of employees living paycheck to paycheck?

The best answer would be signing up for InCharge Debt Solutions Financial Wellness Program.

InCharge’s Financial Wellness Program provides you and your employees meaningful answers on stress-inducing topics like:

• Basic financial literacy
• Creating an affordable budget
• Dealing with a financial crisis
• Credit card debt-relief options
• Credit score improvement
• Saving for a home, car or college
• Dealing with student loans

The Financial Wellness Program is delivered through workshops, webinars, self-paced online courses, brochures, and coaching from certified credit counselors.

Why Your Employees Need Workplace Financial Help

If you’re the kind of leader who pays attention to “warning signs,” there are plenty of them glowing loudly right now, maybe even right outside your door.

Those warning signs are a combination of inflation, rising interest rates, stagnant salaries, and lack of education on how these factors are creating duress among employees. Here’s a look at some of the warning signs that your employee’s personal finances might be going sideways.

• Homebuyers need to make $115,000 a year to afford the median-priced home in the U.S. That is $40,000 more than the average household income.
• The average interest rate for a mortgage climbed to 7.57% in October of 2023, compared to just 3.22% in January of 2022. The typical mortgage payment is now $2,866 a month.
• Consumers paid $105 billion in interest in 2022. They paid another $25 billion in late fees. And what did they get for that $130 billion? Nothing! No goods. No services. Just money paid to the lender.
• Auto loan debt, reached $1.56 trillion in 2023. The average monthly payment on a new car is $725. That used to be a house payment. Now it’s a car payment.
• Household debt rose for the 12^th straight quarter in 2023 and 35^th time in the last 36 quarters, dating back to 2014. Total household debt is a record $17.06 trillion midway through 2023.
• Around 60% of American families say they live paycheck to paycheck. A poll by Barron’s found an astonishing 51% of people with an annual salary over $100,000 say they run out of money on a month-to-month basis.

Those first five points are scary, but the last one – the majority of American workers are flat-out broke at the end every month – is frightening.  Financially stressed employees tend to be more distracted, less engaged, and more likely to seek another job.

Problems like this are why companies have Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), which address problems that affect an employee’s job performance.

It makes sense that your EAP should include – maybe emphasize! – a Financial Wellness Program like the one InCharge Debt Solutions offers.

What Financial Wellness Program Teaches Your Workers

Some people judge their financial wellness based on the size of their house; the car they drive or the clothes they wear, regardless of whether they can afford the show they’re putting on to impress the Joneses.

Financial wellness is about managing your money successfully, not showing off for the Joneses.

InCharge’s Financial Wellness Program will teach your employees how to successfully manage money so they can eliminate debt. This will help your company attract and retain employees; improve employee productivity; and reduce strain on internal resources. Here is how.

Attracting and Retaining Employees

A budget is the most basic tool in a financial toolbox and 95% of people agree with that … yet 73% admit they don’t follow one.

The Financial Wellness Program at InCharge will change that.

InCharge credit counselors are trained and certified in helping your employees create an affordable monthly budget that includes money for reducing debt and building an emergency fund.

If an employee falls behind, counselors will introduce them to options that eliminate debt through credit counseling, debt management, consolidation, settlement, and other ways to control debt.

Get a reputation as a workplace that provides financial education to help employees stay ahead of bills and it will make retaining them easier. It could be the little edge that attracts talent to your company and not your competition.

Improve Employee Productivity

If “showing up” is 90% of the job, employees suffering financial stress are a real problem for your company.

A study at Boston College found that financially stressed employees were tardy more often and missed twice as many days of work as unstressed employees.

The result is that worker productivity is falling at the fastest rate in four decades. The work they leave undone could be the reason your company falls short of production goals.

If employees use InCharge’s Financial Wellness Program to eliminate debt, their focus could go back to the job at hand, rather than how to avoid another call from a debt collector.

Reduce Strain on Internal Resources

We all have been in an office with someone who’s financially stressed and seen how their stress affects everyone in the room. It’s hard not to feel their discomfort and distraction.

It’s awkward, at the very least. At the most, there is a notable loss in productivity, about $40 billion in 2022, says the Financial Post. The Post study says that financially stressed employees spend 30 minutes a day dealing with financial situations and not the business tasks at hand.

A Financial Wellness Program, especially one that respects the privacy and confidentiality of the situation, gives the employee a place to go and unload financial problems. They can speak with experts on personal finances and discover ways to get back on track.

Seeing their confidence restored and a smile back on their face makes working together easier and a lot more comfortable.

About 80% of companies—large and small – have an Employee Assistance Program. Many are adding a Financial Wellness element. An overwhelming number of employees – 74% -- told PwC they want financial help, and you are in a position to help them.

Get ahead of the game. Give your employees a chance to remove the stress of financial problems.

The warning signs are out there. Don’t ignore them. Call Shawn Walsh today for more information about InCharge Debt Solutions Financial Wellness Program.