Financial wellbeing in the workplace
Almost 8 in 10 UK employees take their money worries to work, affecting their performance.1 Fortunately, there are many ways to champion financial wellbeing in the workplace.
What we mean by financial wellbeing
It is about feeling secure and in control. It is knowing that you can pay the bills today, can deal with the unexpected, and are on track for a healthy financial future. In short: confident and empowered.
That’s our definition at the Money and Pensions Service. We want to see everyone in the UK making the most of their money and pensions. We give free, impartial guidance that helps individuals make sound financial choices. We also support employers and their partners to improve financial wellbeing at work.
Why it matters in the workplace
Money worries are the biggest cause of stress for UK employees. They are damaging to business too, often resulting in staff sickness. The case for financial wellbeing at work is compelling.
4.2 million worker days each year are lost in absences because of a lack of financial wellbeing. That’s the equivalent of £626 million in lost output.2
Nearly 7 in 10 UK employers believe staff performance is negatively affected when employees are under financial pressure.3
Want to know more?
Our Financial Wellbeing in the Workplace – The Essential Guide for Employers outlines seven simple steps you can take to support your workforce with their financial wellbeing.
For a quick overview, watch a short video where we share to some of our insights on workplace initiatives from the Financial Capability Lab.
Our one-page thematic review on this topic summarizes a range of research on why employers should offer support, and how workplace financial wellbeing programmes should be designed.
Explore the further research on our Evidence Hub
How we can support you
The initiatives shared on these pages draw on our expertise, support and resources. They’ll help you to enhance financial wellbeing in your workplace.
For more support, contact our partnerships team, based across the UK in locations near you.
Contact our partnerships team
Contact our regional partnerships team for free support and practical ways to help you build financial wellbeing across your organisation.
If your organisation has multiple sites, please contact the regional manager closest to your head office.
Paul is the Regional Manager for the East Midlands. He develops partnerships across the public, private and third sectors that promote and improve the financial wellbeing of an organisation’s residents, customers, staff and consumers.
Before joining MaPS, Paul worked at the Centre for Ageing Better where he developed their strategic partnership with Lincolnshire County Council in response to the challenges of an ageing population, raising ageing as a strategic priority and taking joint action to improve later lives in rural and coastal areas.
He has a background in health and social care and sits on the board of a Lincolnshire charity that reviews and evaluates the effectiveness of health and wellbeing services, as well as delivering the statutory Healthwatch service.
Outside of work Paul loves to cook, read and travel with his young family.
Claudine is the Regional Manager for South East England. She is passionate about supporting the financial wellbeing of your residents, customers and employees.
Claudine has over 15 years experience of working with stakeholders and organisations across medical, dental and legal sectors. Her focus has been around providing information and educational content regarding financial services including income protection and pensions.
Contact Claudine on claudine.bell@maps.org.uk to find out more about how your organisation could benefit from MaPS’ support.
Margaret’s role is to build relationships with a wide range of private, public and third-party stakeholders, to help with the successful delivery of MAPS engagement strategy and business plan. Margaret’s initial work will include introducing and delivering propositions to Employers to help improve the way Employees manage their money, debt and pensions. Her role also includes planning and delivering forums, events and communications which help to deliver the business plan by bringing together cross sector groups to improve customer access to help and support.
Throughout her career she developed and executed a number of strategic business plans that involved proficiency skill. She gained recognition across the newspaper, magazine and retail industry for her directional ability to drive business and as a result built substantive collaborative relationships with national and international companies. Before joining MAPS she spent 15 months working for Business in the Community as their North West Director – during this time she completed three successful and sustainable projects.
Rhian has over 18 years experience of working within the financial inclusion and tackling poverty agenda in Wales. She was the Financial Inclusion Champion for North Wales. As well as working closely with Welsh Government, she is also experienced in working with the public, private and third sector to prioritise the financial wellbeing of citizens in Wales. She has worked closely with local government, housing associations, credit unions and the advice sector across Wales.
More recently, Rhian has worked within the mental health sector in North Wales, firstly for a mental health charity creating new initiatives with partner organisations to support individuals, carers and families with mental health problems to overcome barriers. Following this, working for DWP supporting staff on mental health awareness and financial wellbeing enabling additional support for customers. Also building closer working relationships between DWP and other organisations, including the local health board.
Rhian is a fluent Welsh speaker.
James Kelly is the Regional Manager for the Money and Pensions Service in the North West. His previous role was at Lloyds Banking Group where James developed options to assist customers who were in financial difficulty and / or significant arrears. This included successfully creating and operating the Mortgage Rescue Scheme which worked closely with local councils, debt and homelessness charities to assist vulnerable customers. During this time James was the Deputy Chair of UK Finance’s Arrears and Possessions Panel. He has also held senior roles at the Halifax and is a Board Member for a Housing Association which provides affordable properties to a diverse range of local communities.
Before joining MaPS, Karleen worked at The Careers & Enterprise Company for five years, where she worked in partnership with a wide range of public, private and third sector stakeholders, including education institutes and businesses. Prior to this, Karleen spent 15 years working in the education sector in a variety of education policy and practice roles.
Jenny joined the Money and Pension Service as the Regional Partnership Manager for Yorkshire and the Humber. She joins us from Citizens Advice where she was a National Quality Assessor for Pension Wise. Having spent seven years in frontline service delivery, working for Age UK, SCCCC and Citizens Advice, she was able to shape services that make a real difference to the lives of real people. Before working in the third sector Jenny spent 20 years working in the financial services sector. A member of the Area Board, managing a team of retail, business and high net worth financial advisors at HSBC and being a qualified financial advisor herself Jenny is able to draw on her commercial and third sector experience to support organisations to build financial capability for their clients and employees.
Dawn Cummins is the Regional Manager for the West Midlands. She has extensive experience of working with stakeholders and partnerships across a range of sectors, having previously worked as a CEO for a small charity where she led strategic engagement for the voluntary sector throughout Northamptonshire.
Dawn also held a senior role at the National Housing Federation working with a wide range of housing associations with a particular emphasis on the West Midlands, East of England and East Midlands. She has extensive experience across the not for profit sector having chaired a housing association board, leading its merger with a larger group to maximise housing development opportunities with an aim to provide more affordable housing for those most in housing need.
Alan Nicholls is the Regional Manager for the East of England at the Money and Pensions Service.
Previously he worked at Lloyds Banking Group for 14 years influencing their financial inclusion, financial education, credit union and Universal Credit multi-brand strategies. He served on the group’s East of England Regional Ambassador Executive Committee, as well as attending the Money Advice Service’s financial capability steering groups and UK Finance’s Financial Inclusion and Capability Forum. Alan is also a board director for Harlowsave Credit Union and trustee for ‘Home’ charity.
Monica is passionate about helping people to enhance their financial skills and make the most of their money. Her role is to work closely with organisations from the private, public, voluntary/third sectors to support their wellbeing strategies by accessing MaP’s free resources, removing the stigma attached to talking about money and providing impartial advice & guidance.
Prior to joining MaPS, Monica held senior roles within Social Housing and Regeneration. Monica has led the development and delivery of various strategies, including equality & diversity. Part of this work involved creating frameworks to support the construction industry and employment opportunities for women in various trades. When not glued to the laptop, Monica is an avid salsa dancer and a committed squash player.
My main focus as Regional Partnerships Manager is to understand financial wellbeing needs in West London and how I can support them – from employers, local authorities, community groups, business groups and others – helping more people access money and pensions guidance services. I represent my region in discussions around the UK strategy, policy and proposition development. I work with the region to engage key stakeholders and partners in this work.
Paul is a highly experienced senior business executive, with a 20 year track record of achievement working across, and collaborating with, sectors including defence, the NHS, education, SMEs, charities, not for profits, and the wider private sector. Previously a managing director, business development director and non-executive director across sectors, I have experience in workplace wellbeing, employee development, governance, strategy, business development and marketing.
Scott heads up the regional partnerships team in England, his team is responsible for engagement across the 9 English regions. Previously Scott led on the successful delivery of the What Works Fund and has held a number of partnership roles across the organisation.
Before this, Scott spent a number of years in leadership roles across financial services in retail banking and mortgages through to sub-prime consumer finance, arrears management and debt advice. This also Included setting up and running his own Debt Management company.
Sources
1 94% of UK employees admit to worrying about money and, of these, 77% say that money worries impact them at work.
Close Brothers, The Financial Wellbeing Index (2019).
2 Centre for Economics and Business Research, Financial wellbeing and productivity: A study into the financial wellbeing of UK employees and its impact on productivity, 2018.
3 69% of UK employers. Neyber (2018), The DNA of Financial Wellbeing 2018