Three ways to help your employees budget better

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The high cost of living is still stretching people’s pockets, with many unable to pay for unexpected expenses. The good news is that there are plenty of tools and resources available that could help your employees budget better.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of UK adults would be unable to pay an unexpected cost of £250 and need to take on debt to cover it, such as using their credit card or borrowing from friends or family, according to our Retirement Voice 2024 research.

Our findings highlight that the high cost of living is still taking its toll, with many UK households struggling under financial strain. In fact, 24% of people said they find their current financial situation difficult or very difficult to manage on their present income.

Emergency expenses like a broken boiler or car repairs can pop up at any time for your employees. These can quickly derail their financial stability if they’re unprepared, so it’s important they have a plan in place for unexpected costs. But it can be tricky to balance this with both everyday spending and future planning. 

The good news is that employers are uniquely placed to play a vital role in boosting people’s financial wellbeing. By providing a combination of support through financial education, engagement, and technology, this can make a real difference to employees’ financial confidence and resilience. 

Here are three ways you could support your employees to budget better.

1. Help employees get to know their spending habits

A good place to start is by encouraging employees to understand their spending habits, so they can see exactly where their money’s going each month.

You could signpost to resources such as MoneyHelper, which has a range budgeting tools that can help them break down their spending into categories. 

There are lots of online platforms out there that can help as well. In particular, those that utilise open finance technology, such as our Money Mindset* platform, can provide a powerful way to simplify and automate the budgeting process. Available to Standard Life workplace pension scheme members, it gives them a real-time view of their finances – including bank accounts, mortgages, and pensions – making it easier to budget and keep tabs on their spending.

2. Highlight the benefits of an emergency fund

As we know from our research, many people would need to take on debt to cover an unexpected cost of £250. 

To help employees prepare for the unpredictable, consider promoting the benefits of building an emergency fund.

If employees are able to regularly set aside even a small amount, this can give them a buffer against unexpected costs. Over time, this could grow into a safety net that could help reduce financial strain if emergencies like job loss, illness, or home repairs crop up. MoneyHelper has some useful resources to help employees understand how to build up a fund and how much to save.  

Standard Life workplace pension scheme members can also use our Emergency Cash Fund Builder, available via Money Mindset*, to create a dedicated emergency pot. They can set a savings target too, making it easier for them to keep track of their progress. 

3. Boost employees’ financial knowledge 

Providing targeted financial education can go a long way to improving employees’ financial knowledge and confidence, which could lead to better money habits.

To encourage maximum engagement, it’s a good idea to provide resources that address employees’ specific needs, and in a way that’s relevant to them.

For instance, for employees who are buying a house, you could point them to resources that cover topics like saving for a deposit, such as MoneyHelper. If your employees are with Standard Life for their workplace pension scheme, they can also use our Homebuyer Hub. This acts as a helping hand to guide members through their journey to buying their first home.

Whereas for employees thinking about retirement, providing retirement planning tools and guidance will be more useful. You could signpost to any internal resources you might have, or to the Money and Pensions Service. Standard Life workplace pension scheme members can also use our Retirement Income Tool to get an idea of how much they might need to fund their ideal retirement lifestyle.

More tips and tools

When it comes to managing money, we know that many employees may be unsure of where to start. 

To help, we’ve partnered with the experts at Better With Money to create a series of webinars that help power-up your employees’ financial knowledge, giving them the tools to manage their money with confidence. Covering a range of topics, our live and on-demand webinars answer the questions that may be on your employees’ minds, whatever life moments they’re facing. 

To find out more about our webinars, visit our Good Money Moods page.

You can also visit our Financial Wellbeing hub and read our articles for more insights on how to support your employees’ financial wellbeing.

*Money Mindset is provided in partnership with Moneyhub Financial Technology Limited

The information above is not intended as financial advice. If employees are unsure they should speak to a financial adviser.