The benefits of good communication this Talk Money Week

By Ian Bird

This week is Talk Money Week (12th – 18th November), an awareness event formally known as Financial Capability Week.  It is an annual event, which aims to get more people in the UK talking about money.

We’re firm advocates of encouraging people to take an active interest in their finances, and actively promote workplace financial education and communication.  Alongside our sister company Secondsight, we’ve worked with many employers in helping their employees over the years.  And as we see these awareness events and financial wellbeing rising up the agenda, I’m encouraged by the conversations that are happening and hope that we’ll continue to break the taboo of talking about money.

There are many barriers to people openly discussing their financial situation, but we know from the plethora of published news items and statistics that financial worries have an impact on the daily lives of many – including your employees – and this in turn can impact on your organisation.

As employers, I believe we play a role in our employees’ health and wellbeing.  One of the reasons we offer employee benefits is for this reason.  But what we need to get better at, is engaging our employees with their benefits, which can help address employee wellbeing, including financial wellbeing.

Of course a multi-channel communication approach is always recommended, but as we’re all increasingly using tablets and mobile devices to view information, technology certainly also has its place.  And if employees feel a little apprehensive about openly discussing their financial situation, an online resource could be the first step in breaking through this apprehension.

An employee engagement portal is a great starting point.  By using a portal, employees have access to relevant information, which they can view at a time that suits them, with information detailed clearly and easily using different methods; FAQs, animation and video for example.

Ideally, your portal should have the capacity to house additional supplementary resources, such as pension modelling tools, or mortgage calculators, and can highlight where employees can turn to receive additional help or support, be that in-house, or through external organisations.

A portal is a great platform for you to share relevant blogs or articles that may help them in their day to day life – including financial wellbeing articles, details of new benefits or promotion of existing benefits.

Embracing online tools in this way can certainly help you to engage with your employees and help them in feeling confident about their own financial wellbeing.

Mybenefitsatwork is an employee engagement portal, with a dedicated financial education module. Find out more by visiting our website or requesting a demonstration.