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It focuses on the vast levels of debt that millions of UK employees are carrying and which is shown, through mounting evidence, to have a debilitating impact on an employee’s wellbeing, their work and, as a consequence, a businesses’ overall productivity.
Open communication and education are the first steps
In my mind, debt - and the stigma that surrounds it - must come front and centre in workplace education, helping it to be discussed more openly so that individuals understand the support they can get and that they aren’t alone. It’s similar to the great strides that have been taken in UK workplaces about mental health.
Open conversation is helping individuals, as well as enlightening others, so it doesn’t need to be a well-hidden, painful secret.
Debt impacts millions of individuals, across pay-level, gender, age and regions. When you consider the number of individuals who are worried in some way about their finances, the impact on a company’s productivity is eye-watering.
In a recent independent survey conducted by Neyber, entitled The DNA of Financial Wellbeing 2017, 54% of employers feel that the effect of poor financial wellbeing has a negative impact on employee behaviour at work.
56% feel it impacts job performance, 54% feel it impacts relationships at work and 51% feel it impacts relationships with management...
How can training help?
The good news is that 82% of employers believe that employee financial health is important to the organisation.
And 17% say they will be focusing on the financial wellbeing of their workforce. This means they could be offering affordable finance and savings tools, as well as offering sound financial guidance, perhaps through an online hub.
Face to face training is also valuable. For it to work effectively, it needs to be available to all and should be titled as positively as possible to encourage attendance. Even the word ‘training’ can be perceived as slightly negative as it implies someone isn’t able to do something or isn’t doing it well.
‘Knowledge building’ or similar resonates better and is seen as more positive.
Workshops can be given internally, but they must come across as helpful and not pushing any product or agenda.
Third-party delivery can often achieve better results as it is independent and the delivery teams don’t know the employees personally, which means delegates can be prompted to open up more.
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Source: TrainingZone
