Employees have been through a period of extreme economic volatility and financial turmoil over the past several years. From the COVID-19 pandemic to exploding inflation in 2022 and 2023, employees endured a relentless series of economic shocks that have kept their personal finances top of mind. As financial stress has risen and economic uncertainty continues to loom, employees increasingly look to their companies for support.
Despite the growing demand for financial assistance, too many companies fail to provide it. This negatively affects employees' stress, energy, and engagement levels – all detrimental to the company's culture and productivity. HR teams can avoid these consequences and improve their workforces' health by prioritizing employee financial wellness. Financial wellness encompasses everything from retirement planning to debt management to charitable contributions, so HR teams should adopt a holistic approach to assisting employees.
HR teams can also use innovative benefits like convertible PTO – which allows employees to put the value of unused time off toward other financial priorities – to meet the diverse financial needs of their workforces. These benefits are especially attractive because they reduce the balance sheet liabilities created by large amounts of accrued PTO while improving employees' financial circumstances. No matter what approach HR teams adopt, it's clear that they need to be proactive about offering financial support to their employees in 2024.
Employees face major financial challenges
While there has been some good economic news lately – the labor market remains strong and inflation is falling – the global economy still confronts significant headwinds. The OECD anticipates that U.S. GDP growth will slow to 1.5% this year (down from 2.4% in 2023), and a recession is possible. Meanwhile, total household debt has risen to almost $17.3 trillion (including $1.08 trillion in credit card balances) and the personal savings rate has collapsed to well under pre-pandemic levels.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.