The time for the biggest and best employee benefits in history, but workers don’t think so

It’s really quite a paradox between what companies offer as benefits and how employees feel about their financial wellbeing. I can say without a doubt that we are living in the most buoyant time in terms of employee benefits in history.

If a company only offers a good salary, as well as a retirement plan with matching contributions from the company, health, life, vision and dental coverage, as well as Health Saving Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts, we could say that it is a normal company without any special attraction for an employee to want to be part of that organization.

Maybe if it gave you a restricted stock program or allowed you to buy them at a better price or gave you an option program. As well as if it allowed you to access support services for your physical and mental health. If it allowed you to work from home or gave you insurance for your pet, we could say that it is one of the good companies in terms of benefits.

How do employees feel about all these benefits?

After seeing the number of benefits offered by companies and the huge budgets they spend on all of them, we might think that most employees feel financially well and have low levels of stress.

But according to a study conducted by BrightPlan in 2023, titled “Wellness Barometer Survey”, for every ten employees, nine say they feel stressed about their financial situation.

This same report shows us that 74% of employees are not satisfied with the financial benefits their company provides.

So many might think that the solution would be to provide more benefits to their employees.

But it would seem that the problem might not be in the number of benefits, given that according to BrightPlan:

1 in 4 employees knows well what benefits their company gives them. And in many cases they don’t even fully understand them.

How does this affect the productivity of your company?

There is no doubt that the mission of every human resources department is based on having productive employees. Who love their companies and feel challenged every day to create value, improving every day.

But how can you achieve this if you have already given them a wide variety of benefits? And also, you know that including a new Yoga club in your list of benefits is not going to make your workers optimize your finances.

Likewise, companies know that there are a number of macroeconomic factors that are completely out of their control, such as:

• Inflation
• A recession
• Interest rates
• The impact that a possible fall in the stock market could have on the balance of their employees’ 401K funds.

Of course, some might say that the solution is simple: raise employees’ salaries and that’s it, or exchange some of these benefits for direct salary increases. But we all know that most people earn more and spend more.

On the other hand, companies would lose tax benefits and be forced to raise their prices. Which would be worse because it would cause more inflation. And with that, an eventual recession, which could bring job losses and then you would have employees even more stressed out by not having work.

So how do you get truly motivated employees and increase their Financial Wellbeing?

According to Dan Sullivan, a global leader in Entrepreneurship Leadership and author of famous Best Sellers:

It’s not about how, but about who.

We are living in a time where anyone who wants to obtain financial education could get it for free on social networks. So accessing information has not been a problem for many years. And even less so now, with artificial intelligence chats.

Now, the problem is centered on the quality of the information you are receiving. And being able to know when the answer you find is something that is best for you. Or perhaps it is an opinion from a salesman posing as a financial advisor. Who may be offering what is best for the financial group where he works.

According to a recent study published on entrepeneur.com.

For every 4 posts, 3 show misleading information and it indicates that only 13% of those who offer financial advice have the qualifications or credentials to give this type of advice.

Given this, some might think that the solution lies in perhaps relying on Artificial Intelligence. But we all know that if you don’t structure the question well, the answer could lead you to make a wrong financial decision. And for that very reason, these systems have a warning note that tells you that you should always consult with a specialist.

For all these reasons, there has recently been a significant growth in Financial Wellness services for employees which are offered by employers, relying on a professional who is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™

What does this new Financial Wellness trend for companies consist of?

Companies are realizing that it doesn’t make sense to continue adding more benefits, when employees are telling them that they don’t understand them or don’t even know that their company provided those services.

This is where Financial Wellness programs or services for companies hire a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. Who has one-on-one meetings with employees, using virtual connection platforms.

In these sessions that are usually provided on an unlimited basis, the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ acts in a completely fiduciary manner. In addition, there is no conflict of interest because he is not there to sell any financial product to the employee.

The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ knows in detail the plans offered by the company. And helps review the employee’s finances in these sessions, in order to suggest what could best adapt to their finances. And how to make the most of those benefits offered by the company.

Usually, employees can request follow-up sessions with the planner (to review points that could not be reviewed in detail in the first session). Usually these sessions can last between 30 minutes to an hour.

Some HR professionals think that this Financial Wellness service is the same as the service offered by the country’s major 401K providers. But as we can see, it is totally different. Since while the Planner can review retirement issues, they also discuss topics such as:

• Tax planning
• Debts
• Cash flow
• Stock options
• Restricted stock unit programs
• Insurance
• Estate planning and in general, everything that has to do with the finances of the employee and his or her family.

Are Financial Wellness services only for large corporations?

Until recently, these services of having a financial planner who could hold one-on-one meetings at the request of employees, were a service that only large corporations could offer. And it was practically impossible to think that a company with less than a thousand employees could access these services.

But this is changing and every day there are more financial planning and advisory firms that are offering financial planning services with unlimited access to a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, as is the case of Advise Financial.

Now, it is clearly not going to be a service that will be able to be massified for a large number of companies for the time being. Since many financial advisors realize that they can make much more money selling financial products, as well as managing investment portfolios for their clients.

Therefore, we could say that Financial Wellness services for companies that are not large corporations will continue to be a very exclusive service for some years. Therefore, if you manage to find a company that provides these services, it is best not to let it go.

Conclusion

Financial planning services for employees is the new trend in benefits. So that employees can effectively optimize everything that their company provides them. And with this, bring improvements to their financial realities, avoiding costly financial mistakes. Which a Certified Financial Planner™ can help determine in these unlimited sessions with employees.

Other great values that these sessions provide to employees is that they fulfill a fundamental function of financial education, but being able to learn from their personal case.