Businesses looking to recruit the best people, boost productivity, reduce absenteeism, and lower health insurance costs are increasingly turning to financial wellness solutions. Many financial services firms now claim to provide the best financial wellness program. Some, on the other hand, only provide an online savings formula.
While financial wellness as a field of study is still in its infancy, previous research on changing behaviour through workplace health and wellness initiatives can teach us a lot. Here are four things HR and General Managers should think about when looking for a genuine and effective financial wellness solution or the best financial wellness program in South Africa.
Here’s how you can determine the best financial program in South Africa:
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What are the plan’s elements, and how comprehensive will it be?
Most corporate employee benefits include more than just a retirement plan, and a true financial wellness plan or the best financial wellness program can be just as comprehensive–covering all of the budgetary needs of staff. The best financial wellness program will also offer advice on the value of any existing benefits, promoting their benefits and, ultimately, increasing employee participation.
It’s also important to distinguish web-only platforms/solutions from those that also offer truly personalized advising from a live financial planner.
Staff must be able to contact consultants or mentors via direct communication such as through mobile, video conference or conversation, emails, or in-person in order to increase involvement and change financial behaviours.
A paired survey of people who have met with a financial advisor and those who did not were followed prospectively in an effort to measure the “value add” of financial planning. Survey participants who managed to meet with a financial advisor were much more capable of setting long-term goals, determining retirement needs, setting up retirement assets and liquid assets, responding to an economic downturn with proper investment responses, and having greater retirement confidence.
It’s also critical that employees receive intellectually honest, impartial advice to assist them in making the best decision for their specific situation. That’s exactly what a remedy that lets you connect to Certified Financial Planners® performs. The CFP® acts as a fiduciary, providing objective financial advice transparently and always in the best interests of its employees.
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Ensure that communication with employees is two-way
It has been revealed by occupational health research that workplace wellness inventiveness to improve health is most fruitful when staff are able to exchange views about what they find useful. Collecting feedback and feedback from employees about their perceptions of their financial status, needs, benefits, and barriers is important information for recommending or improving the program or making it the best financial wellness program and for giving employees a sense of belonging.
And to make sure that communications reach the staff, employers can tailor communications to staff demographics, appoint a couple of channels of conversation, specifically social media, and make communications easy and significant for the goal audience.
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Staff understand that their participation is private & secure
Employees demand that their financial information be extremely private and confidential, and we all recognize the importance of protecting financial data.
The best financial wellness program will offer company-level facts or information while preserving the financial desires or needs and private data of employees anonymous.
It could even encourage engagement or contribution when the program is available via web or mobile device, with the intention that the staff can control their finances when it’s most advantageous for them–at one’s convenience.
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Provide a preliminary outline allowing the assessment of wellness programs
When you don’t determine how to measure the success of the wellness program upfront, you can’t determine whether it is working. A powerful, effective financial wellness solution should be able to check the real-time effects as well as the positive financial behaviour changes that offer the staff strengthened reinforcement at the same time as supplying facts to you.
However, the benefits of healthcare and retirement may not be as obvious or easy to quantify. As a result, it becomes even more critical to be clear about how you plan to properly assess the program before implementing it. Recognize that quantitative measures will need to be assisted with more qualitative facts, such as individual achievement stories.
It`s additionally essential to assess a financial wellness program periodically at some point of its implementation in order that enhancements made early and directly to assist this plan, can be successful.
You may also be able to understand or know about the best financial wellness program in South Africa by asking yourself the right questions.
Still questioning or want extra information on all of the best financial wellness programs in South Africa? We can help. Money messages specialise in financial education and financial health which is why our programs are designed to offer long-lasting value. Book a call with Money Messages today!