Staff Financial Care a Huge Concern for Business

As the concerns about the rise in the cost of living continue, is it any wonder that businesses are now worried not just about their own rising costs, but also the welfare of their staff? With businesses often unable to meet the rising wage demands and to attract or retain staff, there’s a real amount of pressure on them to support staff in a holistic way.

This can be in the form of helping out financially or offering support systems for those struggling mentally too. A recent study has shown a new concerning issue, that a vast majority of employers are concerned that their staff will face financial difficulty this winter.

The rise of fuel bills is obviously one of these concerns, but the looming spending of Christmas must also be coming into play. Almost 1.7 million people in the UK have also increased their use of food banks, showing that there is a real issue for many people showing itself in subtle ways already.

A survey of more than 160 senior HR, finance, payroll, and C-suite professionals, undertaken by Partners&, found that nine in 10 employers (90%) expected either a small (38%) or significant (52%) increase in the number of staff facing financial difficulties this winter.

In addition, the same survey revealed that two-thirds (65%) of organisations were already aware of employees struggling financially.

As some employers seek to help their workers with a one-off cost of living payment, the research showed that a third of employers (33%) have already made (11%), agreed to make (3%), or were considering making (19%) such payment to support staff through the crisis.

However, some employers were not in a position to take such a step, with a quarter (25%) of workers indicating that their employer could not currently afford to make a support payment.

This news simply lays out the fact that the balance between what workers are being paid as opposed to what it costs to reasonably live is becoming a gulf.

So what can employers do?

The amount of cost-of-living support payments being made by employers is heartening to see, however, unless measures can be made to increase wages or offer a significant amount of perks as attraction and retention methods, not much can be done directly.

However, the way a business is run can be more of a help in these situations. Cash flow, covering supply chain and payment issues and other intelligent ways to deal with raising funds can help fuel these supportive payments.

Rick Smith, Managing Director of Forbes Burton, said

“Business owners should also focus on growth, the government are screaming this from the roof tops, growth can give the business the easement it needs to financially support the staff.

“Get the staff more involved so they can understand, align, and support the business. By doing this the team will help on the growth focus.”

Need help?

Struggling with the latest in a long line of financial woes for businesses in general? Talk to one of the Forbes Burton team today for advice.