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It may seem like ages ago, but 2020 ushered in historically lowunemployment rates. As HR leaders, you were thriving and had noshortage of talent from which to choose.  Income wasrising – but so was debt. Despite a rosy economic outlook, USworkers were facing unmanageable debt. Nearly 8 in 10 US workerswere living paycheck. Four out of 10 adults would struggle to coveran unexpected expense of $400.

And then we hit March – and the problems facing US workersaccelerated.

Layoffs, work furloughs, and uncertainty accompanied the globalCOVID-19 pandemic. Once drowning in open headcounts, your focusshifted from hiring to ensuring you were taking the best possiblecare of your employees.

Prior to the pandemic, more than four out of 10 USworkers were experiencing financial stress, according to a surveySalary Finance conducted in December 2019. In new data collected inJune, that number had increased to more than two-thirds of Americanworkers.

if you are one of the fortunate organizations that hasn't had tolay off employees or reduce pay, you might be skeptical that thisreflects the reality for your own employees. But keep in mind thata spouse or partner's reduction in income is included in thisnumber, and many are supporting other family members or loved oneswho have lost jobs or income as well.

In that most recent study, we also asked what economic trends USworkers are feeling the most anxiety about at this time. Theirfears revolved around how to:

• Reduce spending
• Adjust to a loss of income
• Build up savings

This provides a tremendous opportunity for employers. It's beenuncommon for employers in the past to probe too deeply into thefinancial wellbeing of their employees, but we are at a crossroadswhere our best asset – our people – are crying out for help.

You may be tempted to think the status quo approach towardemployee financial wellbeing is not your problem.

Think again.

Employee financial stress impacts your organization's bottomline, to the tune of up to 18% of your annual salary cost.Employees experiencing financial stress are more likely to havesleepless nights, spend hours dealing with money issues at work,and are twice as likely to be looking for a new job.

Put bluntly: It is your problem.

So how do you go about implementing a financial wellbeingprogram for your company? It starts with two critical steps.

1. Understand your workforce

Let's start by busting a common myth about employee financialwellness, which is that paying people more will solve the problemof financial wellness. According to our research, that's simply nottrue. Money worries show up across the income spectrum, and don'tdecrease as income level increases.

Gathering the data needed to truly understand the financialstressors your employees are facing can feel like a daunting task –but there are sources you can likely tap into right away. Theyinclude:

• Looking at 401(k) loans taken out. If you'veseen an increase in that number – and we would expect many of youhave seen a spike over the last several months – that is anindication that employees are financially stressed and looking forliquidity – or money!
• Conducting employee surveys. Adding questionsabout financial stress to anonymous employee surveys will allow youto gauge the current levels and most urgent needs of your employeepopulation.

Based on the qualitative and quantitative data you pulltogether, you can start to put together a framework to support allof your employees, regardless of pay grade, with the rightfinancial benefits.

But you shouldn't stop there. It's important to recognize thatself-reported, anecdotal, or mostly qualitative data may not beenough – especially for large organizations that need to justifyresources they put toward implementing new benefit programs.

That's why it's so important to dig deeper into the data andlook for data in new places using tools — one example is Equifax'sBenefitsIQ solution. The report provides insight into debt levels,credit scores, and delinquencies by credit type, providingbusinesses with insight into the financial stress of theiremployees by income, age, tenure, and region.

2. Build a business case for financial wellness benefits

We've already acknowledged that it can feel uncomfortable toaddress employees' finances if it's not something you've done inthe past. But the value to the employee – and the organization – isclear. As you build the business case for implementing a financialwellness program, it's crucial that you tie the potential positiveimpacts to other strategic priorities. To make sure you're buildinga compelling business case, you'll want to include thefollowing:

• The quantitative and qualitative data you've collected aboutyour employees' financial stress and most urgent needs
• The impact on your bottom line. You can do that withthird-party data, or your own data such as 401(k) loans, sick days,employee satisfaction and turnover, etc.
• An outline of how financial wellness benefits can enhanceexisting HR initiatives is key – to demonstrate that a financialwellness program will be a strong complement to programs that arealready in place.
• Associated costs that demonstrate that a financial wellnessprogram doesn't need to be expensive to be effective. There aremany benefits that you can offer, at least to start, that cost yourorganization little to nothing to implement.

COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we do business andemployee experience has never been more important in providinggreat customer experience. As your business stands on the precipiceof enormous change, now is the time to take a lead and returnfinancial empowerment back to your employees.

Dan Macklin is the CEO of SalaryFinance.