Employee wellness has evolved over time. It is a way for employers to invest in their people and help create opportunities to be their best and healthiest versions, in and out of the workplace. Today, it is also a way for an organization to cultivate a culture that makes their team members proud to work there and serves as a tool for employee retention and engagement.

Financial wellness is an integral part of a well-rounded wellness program and it comes in all shapes and sizes. Retirement plan administrators (401Ks, 403Bs, pensions), banks and credit unions, wellness smart phone apps as well as EAPs serve as conduits for financial well-being in the workplace.

However, hiring financial coaches to work 1:1 with employees is an emerging trend. So it begs the questions: What is a financial coach and what function do they serve to enhance employee well-being programs?

The role of a financial coach is to help employees gain clarity around their financial goals and how they define financial success in their lives. With this knowledge, financial coaches assist employees with breaking down limiting beliefs, understanding their money mindset, creating cashflow plans and debt payoff plans — all while motivating them and holding them accountable to their goals.

For an employer, financial coaches fill in the wide gap between wanting to help an employee lower financial stress and feel more confident with their money and the actual financial success of the employee. Financial coaching works in ways other financial wellness offerings cannot because it deals directly with the challenges and financial goals of each employee as opposed to taking a one-size fits all approach.  

At Workplace Money Coach, we tell our clients we are not here to replace your banks, credit unions, EAPs or retirement plans. We want to COMPLEMENT what you have in place and empower your employees so that they can better take advantage of the resources you offer. Here are some examples:

Financial literacy is important. We appreciate that banks and credit unions are there to help assist with understanding checking and saving accounts, walking through nuances of home mortgages and setting up online bill pay options. Workplace Money Coach can help support your team members by:

• Coaching on having a cash flow plan (aka a budget) in their life so they can find money in their plan to allocate towards savings goals
• Analyzing the employee’s spending habits to cut out wasteful spending
• Facilitate discussions around goal setting and making an action plan to achieve financial goals like home ownership by envisioning the desired result, working a budget and paying down debt to free up money towards a down payment

Mental and emotional health is just as important as physical health. EAPs serve many important roles in an organization, including counseling services, connection to resources and professional help for a variety of life situations. Money is a source of stress that impacts individuals and families. As financial coaches we will come across a situation where we do encourage therapy services beyond what we can provide. Workplace Money Coach can help support your team members’ emotional wellbeing by:

• Discussing money scripts and self talk that limit our ability to reach our goals and keep us stuck
• Exploring how personal and emotional money is and assisting employees on their own discovery of their money mindset and how it impacts their behaviors
• Making it a safe and normal thing to discuss money and help employees understand how to better communicate about money with people in their lives

Planning for retirement is part of long term financial stability and success. It gives us the freedom to decide what we do and when we do it once the time comes that we no longer choose to work full time. Workplace Money Coach knows that too many employees do not participate in company retirement plans and risk not having what they need or want in retirement. We are here to help increase those numbers by:

• Guiding employees through visioning exercises where they determine their best life. Once we know what we really want, we help create actionable plans to get there.
• Empowering employees to take control of their paycheck and work on saving for emergencies, paying off debts, being intentional with spending and then recognizing how they can save for tomorrow. If employees are financially sound right now, they can more clearly consider their future and how they can start saving for that long term goal.

Workplace Money Coach’s focus is financial wellness and we view personal finance as an integral component to the overall health and wellness of your employees. Workplace Money Coach is honored to be partnered with so many organizations around the country committed to helping employees live their best life.