How to create an inclusive financial wellbeing strategy

Open your ears

To build a solid strategy, you need to start with the foundations. In this case, listening to your employees. 

This could include running focus groups or anonymous surveys to understand more about your staff’s financial situation, their goals, stresses and what they want from a financial wellbeing programme - and how your current benefits package is meeting their needs. 

If you already have this information, now is the time to review it to identify any gaps where certain demographics are being supported - and where they are not. 

For example, are your financial wellbeing benefits suitable for your lowest-paid workers or are they slipping through the cracks? 

And are you presenting the information in a way that is accessible or engaging to all? 

Claro Wellbeing research found the most popular financial wellbeing benefit for older workers, aged between 58 and 65, was one-to-one financial coaching, while younger generations preferred topical webinars.

Break the taboo of money talk

Use the information you’ve gathered to create an open and safe space for conversations about money that is appropriate for different staff members. 

For example, you may want to hold small group sessions on building good money habits, covering questions that are submitted anonymously, to start the dialogue. 

You could also offer one-on-one sessions with external experts, such as financial coaches, that are 100% confidential and can be carried out during the working day. 

Can you lead by example in promoting transparency within the business by sharing how the business has been financially impacted by the cost of living crisis or publishing your ethnicity pay gap?

Invite different perspectives 

Can you appoint external parties to work with your board and teams to broaden your viewpoint on financial inclusion?

This could include partnerships with consumer groups, financial education and debt charities, but also people working on financial wellbeing in different industries. The broader, the better. 

Closer to home, you could also consider cross-team discussions involving employees in different roles, on different salaries and perhaps in different parts of the country in the conversation around their own money challenges and goals. 

Keep the dialogue open

Ensure you keep engaging staff in an empathetic way with a consistent and effective comms plan. 

This includes the cynics. While it’s never fun to be on the receiving end of criticism, engaging the haters could provide you with valuable feedback to help you further shape your financial wellbeing programme. 

Use the language of your employees, use key personal finance dates to prompt discussion about money (see Claro Wellbeing’s calendar), and keep staff informed of how your financial wellbeing benefits are evolving. 

Share stories and successes and encourage a two-way conversation with feedback forms, a dedicated email address or anonymous Slack or Microsoft Teams channel. 

Tailor the solution

Pick the best financial wellbeing products and services for your staff based on their input, or choose a provider that offers a wide range of solutions. 

For example, Claro Wellbeing has a number of options including human services, such as one-to-one financial coaching for every employee and expert-led workshops, educational resources, such as our on-demand personal finance courses, and tech services, that includes calculators and a sophisticated budgeting tool that links to your bank account. 

We can also create bespoke packages and design trial solutions for businesses to test out on their teams. Get in touch to book a demo or see how we can help.

Some final considerations…

• Keep your mind open - don’t assume anything about your staff’s financial situation; challenge your own biases. 
• Don't tell your employees what to do with their finances. Instead, consider providing a broad range of educational resources and bespoke one-to-one services such as financial coaching, to support your staff’s financial wellbeing.
•  Remember, this is new for organisations and their teams - we are all learning together. Don’t be afraid to try things out and don’t give up if you don’t get it right straight away.