3 Reasons Why You Should Shift Towards Short-Term Benefits

When it comes to benefits, employers are naturally focused on how they can offer their employees effective support and have their business gain value in return. Many traditionally popular types of benefits, like retirement contribution matching programs, focus on helping employees make long-term plans and growing their wealth over time.

While it’s undoubtedly important to plan for one’s financial future, this approach ignores a simple truth: most people have more on their plate today than just high-level planning or saving for retirement. If employees are unable to handle their daily financial responsibilities, it translates into a significant source of stress for them that’ll impact them every day at work, creating a tangible impact on their employer’s bottom line.

We’ve broken down the top 3 reasons why your benefits plan should shift focus towards providing more short-term assistance if you’re looking for the biggest pay-off for your business.

Demographic shifts

If you’re catering to an increasingly younger pool of potential candidates, your benefits plan should match their age group’s needs. Young people need to be thinking about their futures too, but most are more concerned with paying off student debt or saving for a down payment on a home.

Offering benefits programs that can help meet these needs are going to be more attractive to employees in earlier stages of their lives and can help your business attract strong candidates and retain them. This holds particularly true in industries like food service, retail and hospitality where employees are likely to be younger, earning lower incomes and are unlikely to have access to a fully-fledged benefits program.

Socio-economic changes

Your employees are facing financial pressures that go far beyond the outcomes of their personal financial habits. Two years into the pandemic, workers in many industries still face financial uncertainty on a regular basis as public health orders change. Plus, in tandem with the pandemic, inflation has risen a considerable amount over the last couple years. This means your employees are suddenly paying more for essential goods like gas and food while earning the same wage, leaving them with even less disposable income to save, invest, pay off debt and enjoy their lives with.

Benefits programs that support long-term financial planning are useful, but they don’t do anything to combat the issues that your employees are facing today. Without adjustments in the support they receive, many employees are likely to struggle as they grapple with these changes and carry their stress into the workplace with them each day.

Financial wellness programs, like those offered by QUBER, can help employees grow a pool of liquid savings that’ll protect them in the event of a financial emergency and encourage them to develop the habit of consistent saving. This can help them stay out of debt and keep their long-term savings untouched. Beyond that, offering programs that address the problems your employees are facing daily is a great way to show them that you recognize what they’re dealing with and want to see them succeed.

Helps create long-term stability

Saving for one’s future is an essential component of one’s overall financial wellness. However, between today and retirement, a person could face hundreds of other financial commitments, like buying a new car, home ownership and starting a family.  

This is arguably the most critical reason why shifting your focus towards short-term benefits is key. If employees have short-term commitments that they’re struggling to meet they may have to pull from their retirement savings or go into debt to make things work today. Beyond debt, employees also want to enjoy themselves – not all spending choices are about being prudent. Supporting employees as they save for things like vacations or event tickets can easily make you stand out amongst a sea of your competitors.

In this way, having short-term assistance helps leverage long-term growth and stability. Both are important, but without the ability to manage one’s immediate financial needs, they can’t effectively plan for their future. An employee that feels confident in their ability to meet their responsibilities today is going to be more confident about their ability to do so in the future. When an entire workforce feels that sense of confidence, they’ll be able to take your business to the next level.

Want to learn more about the most innovative, desired financial wellness benefit on the market?

QUBER offers a group saving plan that can help your employees grow their savings, get out of debt and make impactful, positive changes to the way they manage their money. QUBER’s financial wellness programs will fill in the gaps that more traditional types of benefits, like RRSP contributions and EAP, aren’t doing on their own.

👉 If you’re interested in learning more about QUBER’s programs or you’d like to see our platform in action, click here to request your free demo!