More than eight out of 10 employers (83 per cent) say their workforce would value “free” financial advice as an employee benefit.
But despite this just a third of employers (33 per cent) say that have an appetite to cover the cost of this advice, acccording to new research.
Corporate adviser Chase de Vere found that only 27 per cent of employers were including the cost of financial advice in their current budget.
Chase de Vere carried out this research to challenge perceptions that financial advice can be expensive for employers. The adviser says that not only is the cost often less than employers expect, many can recoup these costs through increased productivity and national insurance savings.
Chase de Vere’s corporate advice manager Sean McSweeny says: “Too many employers look only at the headline costs of providing financial advice in the workplace without paying sufficient regard to the benefits it can provide to their employees, their business and also to their bottom line. This could be a false economy.
“Employers who don’t help by paying for advice programmes could, over time, be faced with an ageing workforce that cannot afford to retire, and may consequently suffer from lower productivity and succession planning issues.
“Providing financial advice can actually save money for employers. If there are low levels of engagement this invariably results in many employees paying just the minimum amount into their workplace pension.
“But the presence of a decent financial advice programme will almost certainly boost these contribution levels and, if the company uses salary sacrifice, each extra pound invested will mean a NI saving for the employer.
“These NI savings can be considerable and could cover the cost of the financial advice programme -or even leave the employer with a surplus. So employers could actually make a profit from offering financial advice in the workplace, especially if their current level of employee engagement and employee pension contributions are low.”