Why must you treat your financial fitness like your physical fitness?
Only in this way can you map out a clear route and then work on a solution to make everyone’s life a little better financially.
Employee Financial Fitness
Financial fitness is all about supporting the employee in his ‘financial health.’ It does not mean a substantial salary increase, but preventing and combating financial problems for the employee. In addition to caring for mental and emotional health, the employer also ensures the employee’s financial health. It is essential to look for employee health; one of the company’s traits is to provide the employees with finance for their health; it also gives the company a good reputation when providing its employees with health finance.
A condition for offering support is that employers and employees must need it. One must (dare to) enter a conversation about it and realize that providing or accepting help helps both. The discussion about money worries is more accessible said than done. It can cause embarrassment on the employee and fear on the employer’s part to ‘interfere in something that does not bother you or be held responsible for financial problems when you are not playing a significant role.
Different Types of Fitness
In addition to these aspects of fitness, there is a third important factor that organizations are fortunately gaining more and more attention to: financial fitness. “Financial fitness is a major concern for many employers, either directly or indirectly. Financial fitness means you have control over your income and expenses. Can you pay all the bills at the end of the month? And can you make financial plans for the short and long term? If that doesn’t work, it can quickly have repercussions in the workplace. It causes much stress and uncertainty.”
Have an Eye for Employees
Where employers have plenty of options to support employees mentally and physically, there was a lack of tools for realizing financial fitness. People often do not dare to talk about money worries and quickly seek help. In addition, financial ‘advice’ is often not disinterested. It creates a vicious circle of accumulating problems. Fortunately, an independent platform like Money Finder can break that circle. Employees are helped to get their financial fitness in order. At the same time, the platform offers the necessary handles when participants are not yet fit.”
Invent, Try, and Create Together
The co-creation approach is intriguing for Van Dierendonck: “For us, as APG, it is a very inspiring journey. Our new platform is closely aligned with what we believe in and deal with daily. It is also nice to see that so many parties are willing to try to improve it and have it meet employees’ demands. This way, we can contribute to a financially fit workplace in the Netherlands.”
With so many different partners, staying aligned on the platform’s functionality is essential. Therefore, you might expect that there will be a delay, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Someone who has their finances in order is more productive, happier, and has room to look to the future. Unfortunately, not everyone is financially fit. Sixty-two percent of employers deal with financial problems, and twenty-one percent of employees have minor or severe payment problems. If money worries exist, that person is more likely to be distracted and call in sick.
It is possible to pick up signals of financial turmoil or concerns early and talk to your employees. It is often thought that this is too much a private matter, but as Nibud’s research shows, problematic debts also have significant consequences for the organization. That sounds easier said than done. How do you recognize the signals, and how do you start a conversation? And how do you help your employee further after the interview?
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