Financial resilience is becoming a greater focus of workplace financial wellbeing strategies, according to research from Aon, which found more than half of UK employers now consider financial wellbeing an important priority, though implementation lags.
Aon’s UK Benefits and Trends Survey, which surveyed 240 HR, reward and benefits professionals, found that 53 per cent of employers view financial wellbeing as a key part of their employee value proposition.
The research suggests employers are adopting more integrated financial wellbeing strategies, combining financial education, self-service tools, AI-enabled guidance and personalised financial coaching rather than relying solely on financial products.
Financial education remains the most common area of investment, with 72 per cent of employers planning to introduce financial seminars and 35 per cent looking to provide group or individual financial coaching.
The survey also found employers are placing greater emphasis on improving employees’ financial resilience through day-to-day money management, emergency savings and long-term financial security. Investment in workplace savings solutions has increased from 23 per cent to 28 per cent, while the use of debt-based benefits such as salary advances has fallen from 11 per cent to 7 per cent.
Aon chartered financial adviser and associate partner in financial wellbeing Fleur Iannazzo says: “Financial wellbeing is evolving from a ‘nice-to-have’ benefit to becoming an expected part of a modern employee value proposition. Employers increasingly recognise that access to financial products alone is not enough. Employees need personalised support that helps them to make confident financial decisions at different stages of life.
“Employers are also starting to take a more end-to-end approach to financial wellbeing, bringing together education, coaching and digital tools. That matters because people need strong day-to-day money foundations before they can feel confident about longer-term saving and investment. The employers who understand this – and see financial wellbeing as more than just retirement investments – will be better placed to build more financially resilient workforces.”
