Skyways – August 2019

❸ Optimise the role of HR

An employer’s HR department gives critical support

to employees on company benefits. However, given

the significant changes to the regulatory environment

and other demands, HR departments now need more

support to make it easier to provide the right information

to employees.

This requires using digital tools to reduce the

administrative burden and obtaining the right support

for areas outside their expertise, such as investment

portfolio selection.

❹ Deal with barriers to financial wellbeing

Employers need to pay attention to factors that hamper

employees’ ability to make good financial decisions.

Over-indebtedness and a lack of emergency savings

have a negative effect on their ability to preserve their

retirement savings. Not only do these factors affect

their financial wellbeing, but they also result in reduced

productivity and engagement.

Employers need to look holistically at their employee

benefit programmes and incorporate all the elements –

and not just the traditional employee benefits – to make

sure the whole arrangement works well.

❺ Use data, analytics and insights

Data, analytics and insights help companies and

employers know more about employee financial

wellbeing and track the results so that they grow more.

Sophisticated data analytics offer insights into the areas

affecting employees’ financial wellbeing. By applying

this knowledge, employers can focus their efforts on

key interventions to improve their employee benefit

programmes in order to achieve better outcomes.

The reality is that for financial wellbeing interventions to

be successful, they need to be part of an ongoing process,

requiring ongoing intervention and engagement across

all income groups and throughout a person’s lifetime.

A comprehensive approach is required, incorporating

human capital development, debt management as

well as the traditional financial services such as wealth

management, health and insurance.

Text | John Anderson Photography | fizkes

People need adequate

time to engage with

the benefit decisions

they need to make

when joining, working

for, leaving or retiring

from a company.

The number of years that passed between a Canadian woman losing

her wedding ring and finding it embedded in a carrot she’d grown.

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