Why flexible working arrangements are under-utilised

Over half of employers* believe that flexible working arrangements are a key factor in attracting and retaining employees.

And the employees agree - in fact well over half do.*

But do over half of your employees actually take advantage of the flexible arrangements you offer? Is it even close to the percentage that say they value it?

Ever wondered why that is the case?

It's because they can't afford to. Employees ideally want to work less while their children are young and have a sense of balance between work and life but they are committed to lifestyles that require full time incomes to sustain.

This is illustrated in the results of the 2011 MetLife Study of International Employee Benefits Trends:

The MetLife study agrees that over one-third of employees want more time off to spend with their family. But 45% are concerned about having enough money to make ends meet.

That begs the question: are they still working for you because they want to, or because they can't afford not to?

Financially stressed people don't make engaged, productive employees.

What to do

As an employer instead of throwing pay rises at your team that just fan the flames, consider teaching them how to get a more fulfilling lifestyle out of the money they have.

For example: host an in house series of my DIY Wealth Creation for Busy People course.


* Source: Mercer Benefits Outside the Square, 2008

Educate to their stage of competence

When I'm asked to present to a group it is common that I am asked to give tips based on life stage. For example tips for people with young families.

That's an ok starting point but consider this: if they are hopeless with their money the recommendations for how to save for children's education will be useless. They don't have the financial competence to implement the recommendations.

No matter what stage in life you are it is your current level of financial competence that determines the strategies that are right for you right now.

So rather than creating a workplace program based around life stage create one based around their stage of enlightenment and competence.

You can start by creating a program around The Six Stages of Wealth Creation. Most people sit within the first three stages so you can quickly cover a lot of people. Watch my brief presentation below for an insight into the different stages of competence.

A great starter presentation in your organisation is one built around helping people identify their stage of competence. (For example my presentation "Money for Life".) Your follow-up programs can then be targeted to the needs of each stage. By doing so you'll get the right people in the room because they'll know where they are at.

The Six Stages of Wealth Creation

View more webinars from Empowered Wealth Pty Ltd

Article in HR Leader magazine

This month's edition of HR Leader magazine features an article on workplace financial education. You can read a copy of the article here (March 2011).

On key point in the article in which I am quoted relates to how to effectively run a program so that the employer actually gets a benefit.

“What works well is when there is a homogenous group so that the content can be tailored to suit them,” says Hern. “Running generic seminars to a group of mixed people never works. You get completely mixed feedback and no one gets what they want out of it.”

Broaden Your Employee Assistance Plan

"Sixteen percent of Australians with debt are finding it difficult to make their payments" according to the latest Australian Debt Study Report by Galaxy Research for Veda Advantage.

The research also found:

• "More than one in ten (12%) of Australians have missed a required minimum payment in the past three months, with many missing two or more essential household payments."
• "Of those Australians with a mortgage, 13% were late paying a household bill in the past three months"

Money is a taboo topic for many people, especially talking about financial difficulties. So you as a manager or employer probably won't have any idea when your team members are financially stressed.

Similarly you may not know when they are emotionally stressed. That is why you engage an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) provider and promote it to your staff.

Do they know to call your EAP provider?
But does the promotion of your EAP make staff aware they can also call when they are financially stressed? If not many may not event consider calling this confidential service when they miss a mortgage repayment or household bill.

And even if they did call the Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) provider they may not get the help they need. This is since many EAP providers have psychological not financial backgrounds. About the best they can do is refer your financially stressed staff members to a financial counselling service.

"Fine, problem solved" part of you may be inclined to think. Not so.

Will they actually get the help they need?
Who pays for the service once the staff member is referred outside of your EAP provider? Does it stay confidential from you? If not, your staff member may be inclined not to take that next step.

Plus financial counselling services are not qualified, professional financial advisers. The help they can provide is limited.

Broaden your EAP offering
To ensure your valuable, but stressed staff get the urgent help they need with the confidentiality you both want you need to extend your formal employee assistance agreements outside of the traditional providers. You may need at least two providers: one traditional psychologically based, and one financially based.

It's a more urgent imperative than you think. Many calls to EAPs may be the result of relationship stress and breakdown. Research from Relationships Australia show that financial stress is the second largest contributor to relationship stress.

By providing a confidential financial component in your EAP you could be preventing many of the calls to your traditional provider.

Over half of Australians stress about money: new research

Sixty-four percent of Australians are stressed about money (21% are highly stressed) according to a new study released today by Lifeline. Financial concerns are the second largest contributor to stress, with “work” being the largest factor.

Inevitably this financial stress is distracting your people, reducing their productivity and engagement and costing you.

Lifeline conducted the study in conjunction with Stress Down Day on Friday 24th July.

If your workplace is holding a “Stress Down” event to raise proceeds for Lifeline how about including a presentation that goes to the heart of one of the main causes of the stress – money?

You could host a luncheon seminar about reducing financial stress and provide sandwiches, while asking all attendees for a gold coin (or note) donation to Lifeline. It’s win-win-win:

• You benefit by addressing an important engagement issue
• Your people benefit by improving their wellbeing
• Lifeline benefits through your donations and increased awareness

Go on, call your friendly financial educator now and book it. It’s worth doing even if you can’t hold it on Friday 24th.

Covey: financial stress drains productivity

"Having spent my career helping individuals and corporations increase productivity, I've become convinced that one of the greatest, unnoticed drains on individual productivity is the distraction that financial stress puts on people."

Dr. Stephen R. Covey, Author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

(As quoted in the newsletter of the PFEEF, 17th June 2009)

Wow them with a Financial Wellbeing Month

Building your brand as an employer of choice is one of the employer benefits of investing in employee financial wellbeing. Since so few Australian companies have comprehensive financial wellbeing initiatives it clearly differentiates you from your competitors.

Every April in the USA is Financial Literacy Month, supported by Senate legislation. Judging by the amount of news articles that Google News has been sending me the entire month is full of events run by many of the federal and state government bodies plus private organisations. The large number of events makes you think “Wow, they really care about financial wellbeing.”

You can get a big boost in your brand as an employer of choice by wowing your employees in the same way. Declare a Financial Wellbeing Month and fill it with exciting, engaging events and opportunities for people to improve their financial wellbeing.

During your Financial Wellbeing Month you could:

• Host a launch event for employees and their partners including a CEO address and a general education seminar
• Include specific seminars tailored to life stage and financial interests
• Provide on site brief educational chats with a financial planner (I call this Coffee Cup Coaching)
• Distribute a company branded financial education magazine
• Offer a voucher for subsidised financial advice for anyone who seeks personal financial advice during the month. (They can choose their own planner.)

The depth and breadth of opportunities offered in a short space of time is enough for our human nature to register the message: “my employer really cares about me.” Done well it should also have the wow factor that gets them talking about it to friends and industry peers, thereby building your brand.

You could even spread the message and build your employer brand further by:

• Getting media coverage - this initiative is definitely news worthy
• Sponsoring a community financial wellbeing event. Perfect for companies with regional offices.

If you want to build your brand as an employer of choice a Financial Wellbeing Month would not be your only initiative. It would support the participation in your ongoing program and give you the opportunity for the “shot in the arm” that puts a spring in their step and get’s them talking about how great you are to work for. Now, wouldn’t that be terrific?

To learn more about creating the initiatives you may include in your Financial Wellbeing Month contact me now.