Employee Benefits Insights — How to Improve Employee Financial Wellbeing

Welcome to the third edition of Employee Benefits Insights!

Every month I summarise the latest trends, expert insights, and exclusive updates in the world of employee benefits. As we continue our mission to build a world working at its best, widening the scope of conversation is essential.

Here’s what I’ll cover this month:

1. Benefits Trends — Financial wellbeing benefits
2. Opinion — can benefits combat declining financial wellbeing?
3. Tech Innovations — Ben’s spring refresh
4. Benefit Spotlight — Oliva for stress awareness month
5. Useful Resources

1. Benefits Trends — Financial wellbeing benefits 📈

We’ve noticed a trend in companies seeking out financial wellbeing benefits. According to the CIPD, only 18% of organisations have an employee financial wellbeing policy in place, yet employees with a financial wellbeing policy are seven times more likely to report their employer has a positive impact on their financial wellbeing.

I think companies are finally recognising that financial wellbeing programmes are strategic investments in your team’s health and happiness— they directly improve their quality of life, therefore making your company more appealing to prospective and current employees. Plus, not only are you supporting their immediate needs, you’re also fostering a more resilient and committed workforce.

Here are some of Ben’s top choice providers for financial wellbeing:

• Octopus Money
• Bippit
• Money Guided

2. Opinion — Can benefits combat declining financial wellbeing?

Speaking of financial wellbeing benefits… A few weeks back, I argued that the financial education deficit in the UK is a major cause of our poor financial resilience. Yet, I know this isn't the whole story. With the likes of soaring inflation and food prices, a deepening rental crisis, and an unstable job market, it's clear that there are larger forces at play.

Despite these challenges, I am convinced that employers can still make meaningful change. A recent study by nudge revealed 11.5 million Brits have less than £100 in savings, highlighting a dire need for improved financial management.

So what can employers do?

While temporary fixes like cost-of-living bonuses can be helpful, they're just that—temporary. Investing in sustainable solutions like financial coaching and budgeting support can be transformative.

Research shows that individuals who feel financially secure are 23 times more likely to be content with life. So, by fostering financial stability, employers can not only boost employee financial wellbeing but also enhance workplace happiness and productivity. It's a win-win—better financial health leads to more focused and effective workers.

3. Tech Innovations — Improved benefits communication 🌐

When it comes to benefits, it’s not always what you offer, but how you offer it. What I mean by this is that the companies with the highest employee engagement—and engagement through Ben—are the ones who communicate their offering most effectively.

But we get it, you’re super busy. So we’ve updated our platform to give you a bit of a helping hand —we’ve refreshed the employee dashboard to keep employees in the loop more.

Here’s what we’ve added to the employee dashboard:

• Reminders: Employees will now see reminders for benefit actions.
• Total compensation snapshot: Clear view of their total salary, pension, and benefits package.
• Benefit contributions: Simplified insights into their personal benefit contributions.
• Enrolled benefits at a glance: Quick overview of current and available benefits.
• Wallet balance overview: Instant look at flexible allowances.
• Helpful links: How-to articles, useful resources and the Ben app.

We want to make benefits as flexible and easy to access as possible. These updates are designed to enhance your team’s navigation of Ben and improve their engagement with their benefits. We wrote about the recent changes here.

4. Benefit Spotlight — Oliva 🧠

April is stress awareness month. And with no sign of the global mental health crisis slowing, I thought I’d share one of the ways we’re proactively tackling employee stress at Ben.

We’ve always prioritised employee mental health services to support our team. Oliva is our go-to provider and they’re awesome — everyone at Ben gets access to round-the-clock support and 1:1 therapy sessions at no cost to them.

This month we had a 90% engagement rate among those who have opted in on the platform— making it one of our most popular benefits. Learn more about Oliva here.

5. Useful Resources

🎤 [Recording] Employees as Consumers: Employee Benefits for a Disrupted World with Lucy Adams.

🚨 [News] Changes to benefits taxation from April 2026 (P11D)

💻 [Free tool] AI HR policy generator.

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