1 February 2024
It’s ‘that’ time of year again following the New Year and whilst it had been a special time of year for most people, it’s also true to say that the Christmas period can cause serious financial pressures for many of us, which is felt most noticeably once the parties have dwindled away.
With ongoing household expenses coupled with the cost-of-living crisis, Christmas has the potential of tipping some employees over the edge. Unless you have managed to budget in advance or have been incredibly organised and purchased presents throughout the year, then the credit card is likely to have been reached for when preparing for the festive period or paying for an unexpected bill. Inevitably, pushing the worry of how to pay it off until the New Year…
It’s so easy to get caught up in the ‘buy now, pay later’ trap, but starting the New Year with a chunk of debt is not the best kind of New Year resolution, and can have a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing, especially if there are already other monthly payments to make, such as a mortgage, car loan, etc.
So, what can be done to support your staff at this time of year?
Most of us could benefit from some belt and braces financial advice, and this can really serve to kickstart good financial habits. Topics like budgeting, apps for keeping track of spending, what proportion of salary to save, short term and long-term savings and investment and advice on pensions are relevant for almost everyone, and could be provided or perhaps subsidised by an employer looking to invest more in their employees financial wellbeing.
Admittedly, financial advice is not going to help much in the short term, and especially so close after the Christmas period, so employers could also consider some other measures to help employees with the inevitable financial burdens.
Some ideas to consider could be:
From a management point of view, it’s also really important to provide regular 1 to 1 support and check-ins to staff to help recognise when they might be going through financial related challenges. Not only could their situation affect their wellbeing and mental health, but it might also have an impact on their performance and social interactions at work.
However, it’s important to remember that managers shouldn’t try to give financial advice themselves, because this requires a professional qualification, and should a situation deteriorate, it could get an employer into legal hot water.
In summary, a proactive approach is unsurprisingly the best strategy to provide employees with long term financial wellbeing. Providing nurturing 1 to 1 management support and signposting employees to external financial resources when needed could prove to be very valuable. Or even going one step further and providing staff with free access to a financial advisor might be a positive benefit an employer can put in place early in 2024, to ensure employees are in a more stable financial position before the next Christmas season begins.