Don't forget about employees' financial well-being

Let’s be honest – We Americans spend a lot of time at work. In fact, we spend an average of 34.4 hours a week on the clock, and for many that number is laughably low. According to Gallup, we spend more time on the job than our counterparts in the world’s largest economies. We also get fewer vacation days and we often don’t take them all.

But all those hours have failed to move the needle on job satisfaction. We work a lot, but poll after poll indicate job satisfaction continues to hover below 50 percent. That’s bad for people and bad for business – thus the idea of employee well-being was born.

The concept is not new, but the healthy job market and retiring baby boomers have helped usher in new well-being initiatives that include everything from better benefits and healthy food, to comfortable office furniture and massages. The big question is this: How does your company make sure it’s not just checking the box but rather effectively addressing the physical, emotional and financial needs of the people on their teams? The answer to that can be traced back to your company culture.

Related: Behavior change: The focal point of successful employee well-being initiatives

We work with thousands of companies on innovative and interactive ways to teach employees how to manage their money. We notice, time and time again, these employers have established healthy company cultures – environments where people matter most. That’s why they care that their employees have a household budget, pay off debt, and save for things like houses, college, and retirement. Having employees who are healthy financially fits their company culture.

The need is enormous

Caring is not enough. More than 70 percent of people are living paycheck to paycheck, almost half of the people you meet couldn’t take care of a $400 emergency without borrowing money from someone or dipping into their 401(k). Participation rates have increased because of things like auto enrollment, but the account balances and the savings rate haven’t improved.

If your employees are having money problems, they’ll quit and go across the street for just a few dollars more thinking that will fix the problem. I don’t need to tell you how expensive turnover is.

Studies conducted by SmartDollar found that 51 percent of employees said they were either “scared” or “confused” about money. Scared and confused. That should be enough to motivate your company to create a culture where financial wellness is every bit as important as vegetables and gym memberships.

Do that and Employee Well-being month will be every month.

Brian Hamilton is vice president of Ramsey Solutions’ SmartDollar Financial Wellness Program.