Help Employees With Financial Education

We all know how bad the economy is. All we have to do is read the newspapers, look at the Internet or look at our diminishing wages. The signs of economic health are not good. So should employers help their employees? The answer is definitely yes, but carefully. As an employer, you probably should not be giving any kind of investment or financial advice. But you can be helping your employees better understand what is going on out there. If, as employers, we don’t provide financial education, then we risk losing employees or productivity through outside distractions. But what can we do? Well here are some tips that are very inexpensive but can end up saving you lots of money and help you to get a more engaged workforce. This engagement will come because your employees won’t be as distracted or stressed out about the insecure world out there.

• Contact your Employee Assistance Program. They are a great resource for providing your employees with resources for how to create and manage a budget. Often this is enough to help your employees re-gain a sense of control. They are also a resource for you when you notice employees who are in distress and can guide you in the process of getting them to a counselor for help.

• Provide financial Seminars at Work. Use an independent agent who does not represent you and is not selling any particular product to deliver financial awareness seminars to your employees at the workplace. This not only gives them valuable information on how to get their finances under control (i.e., budgeting, financial goal-setting, the importance of checking credit reports, cutting expenses, becoming less dependent on credit, etc.) but it also demonstrates your concern and commitment to helping employees get through these tough times.

• Have your 401K Vendor Speak with your Employees. This is especially important in these unstable economic times. Most people aren’t professional investors and, in good times, leave their 401K alone. Now they need help in not over or under reacting to the continual “bad news”.

• Overcommunicate with your employees. This is the most important thing you can do. Now is the most important time to stay in touch with your employees. They need to know that you are sensitive to what they are going through.

Remember to take a “long view”. The current economic conditions will not last forever and as at some time, when the economy turns around, you want to have fully engaged and loyal employees. How you treat them now will go a long way to long term retention of your workforce.