Max recently announced a partnership with human-resources firm Questis to make Max membership available to companies using Questis to provide benefits to employees. We asked our friends at Questis to tell us why companies should think about employees’ finances.
By Anthony Del Porto
When employees have personal-finance benefits through their companies, they don’t have to bring their financial issues to work.
Employers need to be serious these days to attract and keep employees. Most benefits offered today are commonplace, so they don’t set employers apart: medical plans, dental plans, vision plans, and transit passes are all typical. Now employers are looking at financial planning benefits such as those offered by Questis as a way to not only attract employees, but also improve their performance at work as well. Here are five reasons why.
- Solve employees’ financial problems
American workers are in a rough place financially. 76% live paycheck to paycheck, 46% have less than $800 set aside for emergency funds, and 31% have zero money saved for retirement. It’s not that employees don’t have options or benefits available to help us, but it can be hard to properly prioritize where to put money. Financial planning benefits provide the guidance needed to tackle this widespread issue.
2. Reduce work-time distractions related to personal finance
The distractions of personal finance issues greatly reduce productivity in the workplace. Financial stress affects people negatively, much like any other stress. It becomes hard to concentrate on the work at hand if employees are worried about overdue bills, college savings, and retirement. All of this stress adds up. If a financial-planning benefit is available to clean up staffers’ finances, they don’t have to bring those issues to work. On the other hand, what if the employees suffering from this stress were able to get some help. Mentorship from a group who knew exactly how to help those with personal finance issues? If this is YOU. You may want to head over to https://www.teachmepersonalfinance.com/ for more information to see where you can SAVE some cash.
3. Compound the power of better financial habits by starting early
Too few employees have an emergency fund. If they save $10,000 in an interest-bearing savings account that earns 1%, rather than the average 0.09%, they will earn $100 by the end of the year. This is just one small change that can make a big difference. By looking over an employee’s entire financial profile, even more money-saving and money-generating ideas can be found. With the proper assistance, each employee can figure out how much money he or she will need for retirement and start taking the proper steps now to get there. The earlier one gets started saving in the right ways, the less one will have to put in on a monthly basis — or the earlier one can retire.
4. Lighten HR’s load
When employees approach HR with their financial questions, it puts an unfair burden on HR, which typically isn’t equipped to handle it. Bringing in a financial-planning service gives HR a place to refer employees to get the best advice. This is particularly valuable when employees are faced with more complicated options than usual, like a pension buyout plan.
5. Provide accountability
Though the options available for employees’ finances can be complicated, the steps required to make the correct changes are usually fairly easy. Everyone just needs a little push. Having a financial planning benefit means that will not only will employees be guided to do what is best, but also someone will check back to make sure they are doing it. Sometimes taking the first step to tackle something as daunting as a retirement plan looks scarier than it is, so having someone who knows exactly what to do is crucial.