There are many similarities between financial wellbeing and mental health, but there are also key differences employers need to recognise, writes Sam Lathey.
The time of financial wellbeing is here, not least because of the global pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis.
However, it has lagged behind mental wellbeing in terms of employee access. In some ways this is useful, as there are clear lessons that businesses can apply from their work on mental wellbeing to shortcut success with financial wellbeing.
But I’d argue that there are also four key areas where lessons can be learnt, three of which relate to stigma, and the fourth around the types of financial wellbeing solutions that organisations can implement.
1. A common lexicon for sharing personal stories
Could you easily find the right words to describe your mental health or your money situation?
It can be difficult to communicate these complex areas, and with money there’s still a tendency towards black or white thinking, for example being ‘good with money’ versus being ‘bad with money.’
Financial wellbeing
However, with mental health there’s more nuance. For example, it’s accepted and understood when people say they’re having a bad day or struggling with their mental health.
Shared language is essential when combating stigma because it gives people confidence that they won’t be shamed for sharing, and that they will be understood clearly.
The cost-of-living crisis has opened up the conversation about money, which is important because this encourages shared language to emerge and be agreed upon.
2. Our stories do not define who we are
One of the ways society has helped break down mental health stigma is by sharing diverse stories about personal struggles.
Perhaps most importantly, these have emerged from traditionally ‘unlikely’ places – macho rugby players, confident celebrities, and business leaders for example. Showing that mental health affects everyone, no matter their background, has been extremely important to breaking down the stigma.
But the willingness to share such stories does not exist to the same extent when it comes to money. HR professionals have told us that it’s much harder to get senior leaders in businesses to share money stories involving personal growth or recovery from problems.
The reasons include the other points related to stigma in this article, but also that senior leaders often have a great deal of fiduciary responsibilities and may feel that stories of this nature could undermine a wider perception of their abilities.
3. Every day is different
There’s a more embedded, progressive belief across society that mental health exists on a daily spectrum – everyone has mental health and it varies daily based on a wide range of factors.
Because of this, individuals often feel more empowered to share “micro-stories” of their mental health at work, or on shared messaging channels. This is really powerful for reinforcing the idea that everyone has daily mental health.
Unfortunately, however, in many places there’s still a mentality of personal financial situations being set in stone rather than something that can fluctuate on a daily basis.
This also extends to our individual relationships to money being restricted by a fixed mindset rather than something we can improve over time. This is changing, and the change is gathering pace, but it’s early days at the moment.
4. Empower employees
When an organisation starts tackling a pillar of wellbeing, it often starts out as predominantly reactive. Solutions offered also tend to be prescriptive.
However, as knowledge and experience of the problem increases, organisations tend to orient towards being proactive in helping employees manage their own wellbeing.
This approach naturally lends itself to empowering solutions that are defined by high levels of personalisation, so that they’re relevant to the individual.
Mental wellbeing has been established as a pillar of organisational health for longer than the financial wellbeing pillar. This means that, in general, there is a more mature approach to tackling mental wellbeing than financial wellbeing.
That said, the last few years have certainly accelerated awareness and understanding when it comes to the impact of financial wellbeing in the workplace.
Part of making progress on financial wellbeing is ensuring that employees feel able to start discussions and share concerns.
Overall, part of making progress on financial wellbeing is ensuring that employees feel able to start discussions and share concerns, either directly at work or through third parties.
Focusing on the areas above, such as helping to embed a shared lexicon, will speed up this process – it’s something we’ve learned from the mental wellbeing pillar in society, and it would be shortsighted to ignore these learnings as we try to empower UK employees to improve their financial wellbeing.
We also need to implement the right solutions at the right time, so that employees feel empowered to talk about money and take control of their own financial wellbeing.
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But we should also celebrate progress where it’s been made. If there’s one positive to come out of the cost-of-living crisis and the global pandemic, which have both unfortunately had many negative effects on financial wellbeing, it’s that being in financial distress – and talking about it – is more acceptable across society.
This is exactly why we need to double down on financial wellbeing at this moment to ensure that the hard-fought progress made from these experiences won’t have been in vain.
