If you’ve noticed your employees seem a little frazzled, you’re not alone. The normal pressures of life and work combined with the emotional toll of the pandemic, national, and world events and financial problems are leaving many workers feeling stressed and burned out. A recent survey found that 72% of survey participants said stress was a significant issue. Six out of ten participants worry about their finances.
The first half of Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down.” I think we all know the truth of this Proverb. As a business owner, stressed out employees can have numerous negative impacts on your business.
- Morale drops as stressed employees interact with each other.
- Customer service can suffer.
- Productivity decreases and absenteeism can become a problem.
- Employee retention can be difficult.
- Higher-paid, older employees may not retire if they have not adequately saved for retirement.
The bottom line is that stressed employees are bad for your business. As an employer, you cannot solve all your employees’ problems, but you can offer them the resources and education to gain confidence to better manage their personal finances and save for retirement. Let’s look at some benefits.
Retirement plan benefits
The most familiar benefit, retirement plans allow employees to put aside money from their paycheck for retirement. The most familiar vehicles for this are the 401(k) and 403(b) but there are other options that may be more suitable depending on the goals and structure of the company.
Retirement plans may have features that are specifically targeted toward helping employees save, and save more, for retirement. Auto-enrolment and auto-escalation features help get employees into the plan and increase their savings over time.
The government takes a very active role in protecting savers from mismanaged plans or plans that are not in the employees’ best interest. Unless they have officially delegated that responsibility to a 3(38) fiduciary who takes responsibility for investment management, the company or owner assumes the full liability for this compliance.
Financial wellness benefits
Financial wellness is a more recent benefit and focuses on providing education on areas such as reducing debt, establishing an emergency fund, paying off student loans, and other personal finance topics.
A solid retirement plan with participant-centric features coupled with financial wellness resources can be a powerful one-two punch to help your employees deal with their current financial worries and increase their savings for the future.
This can be fantastic news for your employees, but it also has great benefits for the company too!
Advantages of offering a retirement plan and financial wellness benefits
As mentioned before, decreasing worker stress about finances can help:
- Boost morale and job satisfaction. This bubbles over into how employees treat teammates and customers.
- Increased productivity and focus and decreased absenteeism.
- Retain employees and attract new talent.
- Higher paid, older employees retire on time, creating opportunities for younger employees.
Beyond these, a well-structured and managed retirement plan might help the company reduce taxes and increase contributions.
Additional Benefits of Values Alignment
As mentioned previously, Christians can experience stress knowing that their investments are not aligned with their values. Including faith-based investment options within the retirement plan gives employees to opportunity to align their investments with their values, bringing further peace of mind.
Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” Committing to help your employees with a quality retirement plan and financial wellness resources is truly a “good word” many of your employees will love to hear!
Beacon Wealth Consultants can be the 3(38) fiduciary investment manager for your 401(k) or 403(b) plan. We help employers identify their goals and take on the management and much of liability for the plan. We are Christian financial advisors with a special focus on helping Christian business owners and church leaders with their retirement plans. Our Kingdom(k)® and Kingdom(b)® plans include several faith-based options that give you and your employees the option of aligning your retirement investments with your values.
If you’d like to find out more about our retirement plan services or request a complimentary plan analysis, please schedule a call!