By Chris Whitlow, Edukate
Nearly a third of all
American workers bring their personal financial stresses to the workplace. For retail sales workers
in particular, many are living paycheck to paycheck.
This unique challenge creates an opportunity for
employers to offer personalized solutions to address employees’ short-term
financial stressors, to not only reduce absenteeism and lower turnover rates
but also increase employee health and happiness.
Advertisement
Understand Employee Demographics And Stresses
To better address the financial stresses of retail
employees, we first have to understand its origins. For many retail sales
employees, low wages are common. In fact, the average hourly
wage for a retail employee hovers near $10. Based on surveys from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, this puts retail sales employees in the lowest 10% of
income earners in the country and makes utilizing traditional financial
benefits like retirement plans and tax-deferred savings accounts even harder.
In fact, nearly 90% of low-wage workers don’t
have access to or don’t participate in a retirement plan.
Additionally, the ages of retail workers are often varied. This means that while
some employees may be gearing up for retirement, some are still trying to pay
down student loan debt. For employers, this means that the tools and plans they
implement to address employee stress need to address each employee’s needs
differently, because there isn’t a single one-size-fits-all solution.
Financial Wellness
Financial wellness is the combination of education and
resources that can help employees learn about and manage their own personal
financial stressors. Financial wellness tools give employers the opportunity to
give their employees personalized guidance and boost their financial literacy
in the areas most relevant to them.
As mentioned earlier, this could mean younger employees
take the time to learn how to better pay down their student loans and manage
their paychecks to start saving for retirement. For employees getting ready to
retire, they may learn about how best to withdraw or manage their retirement
savings.
Financial wellness platforms also help employers
communicate with employees in different ways. While some employees may only
want to know about changes to their benefits when open enrollment is around the
corner, others want continued education and reminders about their personal
finances.
A well-executed financial wellness platform can help
retail employees better handle their personal financial stress and can help
employers reduce turnover rates, directly impact annual revenues, and boost
employee happiness and engagement in the workplace.
Chris Whitlow is the founder and CEO of Edukate,
a workplace financial wellness provider with a mission to give every person
access to expert financial guidance. Whitlow works with the Edukate team to
solve problems that ease the financial stress most Americans experience each
day. Edukate helps employers provide the best financial wellness benefits, thus
helping employees manage their financial stress, increase their productivity
and live happier, healthier lives.
