4 ways small businesses can improve employee financial wellbeing

Everybody loves to feel like they’re getting more for their money – we’ve all experienced the disappointment of our salary entering our account and swiftly leaving. It’s not always possible to give your employees a salary bump, but what if you could give them that amazing feeling of finding a tenner in their pocket every month?

Over a third of financial experts interviewed believe that financial stress among employees negatively impacts their business. Proactively finding ways to help your employees paycheque go further will make them feel supported. Here are four simple ways small businesses can help employees save more.

Help them save money on things that matter

There are lots of ways you can help employee salaries go further, whether that’s helping them save money on day-to-day expenses with discounts at their favourite retailers or cashback schemes that reward spending.

Providing a range of retailer discounts means your employees can choose perks that matter most to them, whether that’s food and experiences or treating themselves on payday. 

Consider offering access to these types of schemes as a built-in employee benefit. In Reward Gateway for Small Business, employees can purchase Reloadable Cards with built-in discounts or Instant Vouchers, helping save money on their weekly Tesco shop, their morning coffee at Caffe Nero, or their spring gardening essentials at B&Q. Plus, tools like the SmartSpending™ app can provide discounts on-the-go!

Get involved with helping them do good

It’s very likely that your employees support a charitable cause close to their heart. Sometimes that involves volunteering outside of working hours and sometimes employees may choose to make a monthly or annual donation. Consider offering company-matched donations up to a certain amount as an inexpensive way of helping your employees do good. 

This simple benefit can show your employees that you care about the things that they do, aligning your business with their favourite cause. Providing company-matched donations can also benefit your business overall, with 68% of those interviewed in a recent survey from Work for Good believing that charitable giving positively impacts their profits and 37% claiming it helped them attract new clients. 

Eliminate a monthly wellbeing expense

Gym memberships and subscriptions to meditation apps can add up. Offering complimentary wellbeing resources at your small business can eliminate a recurring expense, making their money go further every month.

Supporting employee wellbeing can have surprising long-term benefits, as healthier, happier employees are likely to take fewer sick days throughout the year. 

The Wellbeing Centre within Reward Gateway for Small Business is an amazing resource, offering hundreds of workout videos tailored for all levels of fitness including yoga, barre, strength and cardio. It also provides practical resources such as recipes and articles, on-demand and ready when they are, alongside a suite of wellbeing videos and guided meditations to support mental health.

Support learning and development

According to research, 87% of millennials believe professional development and career growth opportunities are important. You can help employees save more and learn more by offering free access to books or tools that will support their career development, or you could let your staff expense industry memberships or industry events to help them grow and learn. 

If you wanted to go a step further, you could consider offering an annual training budget for each employee. It’s likely to be much more affordable than salary increases, and it allows employees to choose what they’d like to focus their development on, whether that’s a qualification or a lifelong passion to learn Italian.

Key takeaways:

Overall, there are lots of reasons why helping your employees save more is good for your people and your business. Here are the key takeaways:

• Help them save money on the things that matter most through cashback schemes, retailer discounts, or clever tools like SmartSpending™ that can help save money on day-to-day expenses
• Get involved with helping your employees do good by offering a company-matching scheme on charitable donations, supporting causes they care about
• Eliminate a monthly wellbeing expense by offering complementary resources such as workout videos, recipes, guided meditations, and more
• Support learning and development by offering free access to books or tools that can support professional development or create an annual training budget for each employee

We are obsessed with our mission to make the world a better place to work. Sign up for a free trial of Reward Gateway for Small Business and let us help you motivate and reward your workforce.