Top 3 tips to help employees get through 2023.
Just as we were all recovering from the pandemic, wham, 2022 hit us like a ton of bricks with the cost of living crisis taking centre stage for most employees. High inflation, energy prices and mortgage interest rates have all taken their toll. While there are some signs that we might see a turn around in 2023, it looks like it’s going to be another challenging year.
Here are our top three tips on how HR can help employees through the next 12 months.
1. Show employees how to save money…
Despite one of the Prime Minister’s five promises of halving inflation, we still need to ensure that employees know exactly how to save money to offset their household bills. Our #makeyourpaygofurther campaign has proved so popular with our clients and we’ll be continuing in 2023. It’s about educating employees how to use their discount and benefits portal wisely to make the most of savings. We’ve turned into avid savers ourselves in the office with some of our employees saving around £1450 on cashback alone!
2. Signpost to guidance on how to manage debt…
Helping employees understand how to manage their finances will be key in 2023. Lots of debt will have been built up over Christmas and energy bills from the extreme cold spell will be arriving on the mat. Many will be struggling to pay. Giving employees access to something like Money Helper, a government backed initiative, will help them navigate how to cope with money troubles. We have built that into our platform as standard for all of our clients’ employees making it easy to access and signpost to important guidance.
3. Support mental health…
With all the bad news around the cost of living crisis etc employees’ wellbeing could be stretched to the limit. We are launching a wellbeing collaboration this year with Welldoing which will give HR regular tips on how to help employees manage their mental health. What else might help? Think about giving access to an Employee Assistance Programme (free for all employees with BenefitHut®) where they can chat face to face or online with a counsellor, and/or enabling apps that support employees to check in for a meditation, or a quick breathwork session to calm the mind.
Everyone is different, and will need different forms of support, but if you can cover these bases you’ll be well on the way to supporting employees through 2023.