England’s largest provider of specialist housing and care for older people is backing the drive to get more working people across the country out of debt and into the black.
There is undoubtedly a movement amongst progressive employers across the UK to invest in the wellbeing and happiness of their staff to create a positive and motivated workforce.
Anchor Hanover is one of many employers prioritising the financial wellbeing of their staff. With reports, such as those from Salary Finance, showing that more than 40% of the UK workers have money worries directly impacting their performance and mental health, financial wellbeing is proving to be an important part of the wider wellbeing conversation.
To combat these issues and encourage employees to deal with their debt and move towards becoming a ‘saver’, Anchor Hanover has recently launched a new Save benefit, as part of a suite from Salary Finance, the UK’s leading financial wellbeing solutions provider, enabling its workforce to save directly from their salary.
The new drive by Anchor Hanover to improve financial wellbeing is welcomed by Salary Finance, which has research revealing that 34% of people working in Britain regularly run out of money before payday (11 million people). Furthermore, its survey data revealed over half of the UK workforce (53% / 18 million workers) lack financial resilience, meaning they are likely to be in debt and possibly concerned about their financial position.
Further Salary Finance research revealed the average Brit is nearly £7,000 in debt*, but they don’t worry until it hits £6,000, meaning there is no move to tackle debt until it becomes a problem.
These statistics explain why people are struggling to save, but also highlight the unique position of UK employers to support the transition of millions from dealing with debt to becoming savers.
Since launching Save in October of last year, 70 people at Anchor Hanover have already begun saving, putting aside amounts ranging from £10 to £400 per month – an average amount of £80 per person.
Half of the colleagues at Anchor Hanover have also utilised Salary Finance’s Learn product, an online financial education platform with practical tools and on-demand video tutorials.
Furthermore, over 540 employees have taken loans, with the key reasons for doing so being debt consolidation (168) and home improvements (185).
Helen Ward, Reward Specialist at Anchor Hanover, says as a not-for-profit organisation the ease of offering the Salary Finance solution, and the fact it was free to employer, made it the best choice.
“We run 54,000 homes for older people nationwide, which means our 10,000 plus workforce is dispersed. The Salary Finance platform is very easy to engage with for our colleagues and the administration required in-house is minimal, which is great for a not-for-profit business.
“We wanted to offer some financial wellbeing support to our colleagues as part of our wider package, and initially we introduced the Borrow scheme, which enabled colleagues to take out a loan and pay it back directly through their salary. Living costs are increasing, and so there is a possibility people could face debt problems. So as a reputable employer, we wanted to help our colleagues.
“We wanted to provide support so people could avoid being forced to consider payday loans, for example, when they couldn’t access normal credit. Borrow avoids this as it takes employment history into account.
“We also offer the Learn and Save solutions. In the new year, we ran a campaign about how people could better manage their salary to help them correct or improve financial habits. That has been extremely well received and is essential to help improve financial understanding and behaviour to foster improved financial wellbeing.”
