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If you own a business, that business is likely the most valuable asset you will ever own. It will usually be worth more than your investment portfolio, your home, or any other asset.
An owners’ salary and bonus are derived from the health of their business and most often their retirement investment funds, children’s education fund, and estate are all highly dependent on the financial health of the company you worked hard to start and maintain.
Business gurus and academics used to opine that by placing your highest duty of care on the customer was the way to make your company run optimally, and therefore most valuable. However, newer thinking and research has changed the focus to making your employees the highest focal point because they in turn take care of your clients. “The Employee is King” has become the mantra of many incredibly successful businesses, including firms like Salesforce and Virgin.
However, statistically your employees are distracted and that means your enterprise is worth less than it should be. A shocking 42% of all employees are finding it difficult to focus at work due to financial stresses according to a study by Capital One and The Decision Lab.
According to this Forbes contributor using Gallup data, a company with 250 employees will lose over $3,000,000 per year due to employee disengagement. That annual loss over just a few years will mean a demonstrable loss in cash profits or future sale price of the organization.
The answer and solution to this issue by company owners is to first admit that financial stresses of your workers are a big problem. According to many reports by human resources professionals, workers view money and health issues as equally important. This means that your annual review of your company’s health plan, while vitally important to hiring and retaining employees, is just as important in the minds of employees as the employees personal finances.
The second answer to this problem is to expand your companies Human Resources platform to include financial wellness. The explosion of offerings in financial technology is making this easier every day. They can range from firms like ours, MyPerfectFinancialAdvisor where any employee for free can be matched to a financial advisor regardless of how little or how much money they have, to platforms like Finfit that are embedded into payroll companies and offer budgeting tools and calculators to firms like Payactiv that are an antidote to expensive payday loans allowing workers to access their earnings at any time.
Distracted and stressed employees are less productive at work, take more time off than normal and are not as engaged with clients and attuned to customer service. By telling your team you are aware of their financial concerns, combined with offering services to help them address the issues, will go a long way to improving workers peace of mind and that will increase the overall value of your company.
Related: Rethinking an All-Passive Strategy
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