Have you ever worried about money? This was the question Caspian Paget put to the audience to kick start our Make A Difference webinar “It’s time to talk about money: How to Make Financial Wellbeing A Reality For Your Employees”. The session was sponsored by Octopus MoneyCoach – a financial wellbeing company that provides 1:1 financial coaching as a benefit to employees.
Not surprisingly the response to Paget’s question was a resounding “Yes”. Paget, Octopus MoneyCoach’s Coach Excellence Lead, reassured the attendees, stressing that they’re certainly not alone. According to PwC’s 2021 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, money is the number one cause of stress and poor mental health for employees – with 94% if all employees worrying about money.
That’s where Octopus MoneyCoach comes into the equation. They believe that in order to support financial wellbeing, we first have to break down the taboos around money talk.
Octopus MoneyCoach is all about doing this by having conversations around money via affordable, one to one financial coaching. Crucially, this coaching is focused on helping employees to work out what’s really important to them in life, then looking at what they can do with their money to make it all happen.
In this article I share my key insights from the session. I’ve also included a link to the full webinar recording and additional resources Octopus MoneyCoach have put together to help HR and Wellbeing leaders to start conversations with employees that will get closer to making financial wellbeing a reality for them.
Turning talk into action
In addition to Caspian Paget, the dynamic session featured insights from Michaela O’Reilly, Head of Reward and HR Analytics with Ipsos as well as Shah Abbasi, Head of Financial Coaching Octopus MoneyCoach.
The content focused on four key actions to help all employers start money conversations with employees:
- Visibility – normalising talking about money
- Engagement – creating the right foundations for engagement
- Personalisation – understanding there is no one-size-fits all
- Impact – measuring the right impacts
You can access the full recording of the webinar here – as well as a series of toolkits which Octopus MoneyCoach has created. Simply enter your contact details when prompted.
My top 8 learnings
The session was packed with useful tips. Here are my top eight:
- Financial wellbeing comes from feeling in control of your finances and being prepared for the unexpected.
- Money doesn’t make you happy. What you do with your money can lead to happiness.
- If you’re financially stressed, it impacts every other aspect of your wellbeing. So financial wellbeing needs to be part of all wellbeing plans
- When you’re worried about money, the natural reaction is to bury your head in the sand. But simply having a conversation about it can ease the burden and help employees understand they are not alone
- Budgeting isn’t about not spending money, it’s about making sure you’re spending it on what you want to spend your money on
- Get stakeholder engagement across the organisation and Board level buy-in by being able to demonstrate the impact of financial wellbeing programmes (Michaela and Shah explain how to do this in the recording)
- Invite female financial advisors to talk to employees – not just men. Focus on financial wellbeing at different career stages so that sessions are inclusive
- Financial wellbeing programmes do not need to cost the earth. Work closely with your providers to streamline what is on offer and maximise resources
What did you find most useful about the session and what would you like to hear more about on financial wellbeing? Send me your suggestions to [email protected].
