Chase de Vere, the national firm of independent financial and corporate advisers, argues that employers can actually save money by providing financial advice in the workplace for their employees.
Recent research conducted by Chase de Vere found that 83% of employers said that financial advice is something their employees would value and benefit from. However, only 33% of employers said that they had an appetite to pay for this advice and only 27% said they were including the cost of financial advice in their current budget.
Contrary to popular belief, financial advice programmes don’t have to be expensive. Chase de Vere, for example, can tailor a programme to suit the exact requirements and budget of an employer. As a broad example, four days of group presentations and two days of optional follow-up one-to-one guidance surgeries may cost £5,700.
However, while this might not be money that employers want to spend, if the programme is successful they could recoup these costs in full.
Sean McSweeney, Corporate Advice Manager, Chase de Vere, 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. They could find themselves losing crucial younger talent to competitors that provide more opportunities for advancement.
“Providing financial advice can actually save money for employers. If there are low levels of engagement this invariably results in fewer employees paying more than minimum amounts 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 National Insurance saving for the employer.
“These National Insurance 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.”
Example:
- Employees – 200
- Average Salary – £27,000 (UK average)
- Employer contribution 3% – Minimum Employee contribution 3% – Actual average employee contribution – 3.5%
- Salary Sacrifice in place
- Opt-out rate – 10%
- Current Employer NIC savings £23,909 p.a.
Financial Education/Guidance Programme:
- 4 days of group presentations
- 2 days of optional follow up one to one guidance
- Total 6 Adviser days at a typical cost of £5,700
Likely outcomes from programme
- Employees have a better understanding of their likely retirement outcomes
- Better engagement will drive higher pension contributions
- Employer saves money with each increase in contributions from their employees
- Average employee pension contributions need to rise by less than 1% (0.83%, equivalent to about £19 gross each month) for employer to break even. Any increases above this and the financial education is actually profitable for the employer.
