India Inc eyes job satisfaction with financial wellness programmes

Major firms including Mastercard, Tata Capital, and Emeritus, besides some start-ups, have taken the mantle of ensuring the financial well-being of their employees by guiding them on their savings, investments, and overall money management.

The waves of the pandemic-led disruption in human resources (HR) policies are still being felt by all stakeholders. Delivering positive employee experience through initiatives for the physical and mental well-being of employees is a common theme of revamped HR policies across India Inc. Now, the game has gone beyond this limited approach.

Acknowledging that financial stress can be a significant source of anxiety and distraction, HR experts say companies are now focussing on the financial well-being of their employees, a move that can positively impact employee loyalty and job satisfaction.

“Workers value financial literacy more than great retirement benefits,” said Daya Prakash, Founder of staffing firm TalentOnLease. He highlighted that having the ability to access financial education videos and coursework as part of a retirement solution has aided business owners in simplifying and strengthening their employee retention strategies.

Major firms including Mastercard, Tata Capital, and Emeritus, besides some start-ups, have taken the mantle of ensuring the financial well-being of their employees by guiding them on their savings, investments, and overall money management.

Creating awareness

Financial services company Tata Capital launched Elevate, a financial wellness program, in March 2022 which caters to the entire employee spectrum, ranging from junior to senior management.

Under the initiative, personal finance concepts are delivered through simplified means via internal platforms like ‘Knowledge Square’ and industry expert webinars. The programmes are curated age-wise. For instance, there is a ‘financial goal planning for freshers’, and ‘retirement planning for employees over 45 years of age’.

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So far, 20 percent of the workforce has participated in these sessions. “We not only impart knowledge but also enable the fulfilment of employees’ requirements through Tata Capital Wealth and our digital platform, Tata Capital Moneyfy,” Avijit Bhattacharya, CHRO at Tata Capital, told Moneycontrol.

Information and communications technology equipment firm Fujitsu Group has conducted a series of webinars for its employees with a taxation partner to understand and help handhold them while filling out the forms.

Sessions on topics like ‘National Pension System’, ‘How to make the right choice while investing and saving,’ ‘Financial investments for your today and tomorrow’, etc. have been conducted.

The initiatives are not limited to full-time employees. The firm is also educating and creating awareness amongst its ground staff, including security personnel, health and hygiene team, and admin team about managing funds, controlling finances, and investing.

Similarly, Bajaj Electricals’ induction programmes are aimed at educating employees, especially new hires, on managing their finances and providing them with tools to live a financially secure life.

“We have been conducting regular sessions on financial well-being, managing investments, tax saving options, and ESOP schemes,” said Suman Kumar Ghosh, CHRO of Bajaj Electricals.

Respecting feedback

Fujitsu collated feedback from over 300 HR team members to understand their requirements and problems they face in managing the processes. Based on the feedback collated, the firm undertook 30 HR process transformation projects which were delivered under 60 days from inception to deployment.

“This has helped reduce redundancy as well as make employees more productive at work, which allows them additional time to spend with their family and peers. While this is a long-drawn result, it also helps in ensuring well-being for all,” said Sumit Sabharwal, Head of Human Resources, Fujitsu Global Delivery Centres.

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Mastercard’s LiveWell platform and app provide employees with informative articles on financial intelligence, saving/investing, etc. and also has interesting challenges that employees can participate in, to improve their financial wellbeing. This is besides a host of mental and physical well-being resources the platform offers.

In 2021, edtech major Emeritus’ Compensation and Benefits (C&B) team, along with its external partners (tax advisor, banking partner, payroll partner, tax-free meal allowance provider) worked together to create a compensation policy that was tax-friendly and compliant.

The result was the Flexi-Benefit Plan (FBP), which was introduced with Compensation Design Simulator, Guidelines to Claim FBP, and an ‘easy-to-use platform’. The interest-free loan and ex-gratia payment received a very proactive buy-in from its founders and executive leadership.

One year after the launch of the policy, over 30 percent of the workforce opted for FBP.

“Employees provided excellent feedback on the launch as they felt more confident of their financial well-being and ultimately decided their monthly net take-home,” said Ganesh S, CHRO of Emeritus.