Employee Financial Wellness Programmes

The financial wellbeing of employees is becoming increasingly important in today’s environment. The disruption of income structures and affordability due to the lockdown and COVID-19 related business interruptions has meant that a majority of South Africans have had to readjust their already strained budgets to afford their expenses. This therefore means that the financial wellbeing of South African employees is deteriorating, thereby necessitating intervention.

A lot of studies have shown that employers can reduce their costs by investing in the health and wellbeing of their employees.

These are some of the economic factors affecting employees:

• Household debt as a percentage of disposable income stood at 75.7% in the 3^rd quarter of 2020 (SARB 3^rd quarter bulletin)
• The unemployment rate stood at 30.8% in the 3^rd quarter of 2020 (Stats SA)
• The South Africa’s sovereign credit rating was downgraded to “junk” status by international ratings agencies Moody’s and S & P.

At Okuhle, our wellness programmes are designed to offer relief to employees in a holistic manner, as opposed to siloed solutions that human resources departments can offer, e.g. retirement, insurance, debt relief.

Outcomes we target with our wellness programmes for employees include:

• Lower stress levels with regards to money-related matters
• Levels of debt that are manageable where an employee has a roadmap for paying them off in a manner not detrimental to their overall financial wellbeing
• Savings plans enough to maintain their favoured lifestyle
• A significant enough emergency fund to cover at least a 3-month period
• The ability to plan for their future goals