7 key employee financial wellbeing solutions HR should consider 

Is your employee financial wellbeing strategy truly delivering, or are hidden gaps holding your people and your business back? In just a few minutes, the Employee Financial Wellbeing Calculator gives you a clear, actionable snapshot of your organisation’s strengths and opportunities—so you can build a more resilient, engaged and productive workforce. 

In this blog

Seven key employee wellbeing solutions for HR
Conclusion and key takeaways 

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Seven key employee wellbeing solutions for HR

1. Transparent, digital payslips

Digital payslips offer comprehensive information beyond basic pay amounts, featuring interactive options and FAQs that explain terminology and deduction details. Intelligent payslips answer questions about pay changes and contextualize monthly fluctuations, reducing financial anxiety.

These tools empower employees to review pay information anytime, anywhere, fostering trust in the payroll process. Meanwhile, the self-service approach significantly reduces HR’s administrative burden as employees find answers independently rather than submitting queries.

Learn how to turn your online payslips into financial wellbeing tools.

2. Faster expense reimbursements

Streamlined expense processing can be achieved in many ways. Zellis solutions speed up the process through employee self-service, automation, and inbox syncing that allows managers to approve requests without leaving their email system. Payout cycles can be set for monthly, weekly and even daily instances.

Using personal funds and waiting weeks for reimbursement can leave employees financially vulnerable, especially if it’s a regular occurrence. Faster processing improves employee cash flow and supports better budgeting. For organisations, regular cycles spread administrative burden evenly, while digitised self-service improves expense accuracy, preventing costly overpayments and saving money through enhanced control and visibility. 

3. Financial education and literacy programmes

Financial literacy empowers employees to make informed decisions about budgeting, saving, and debt management – and a staggering 23 million UK adults say that they lack understanding in this area.

Employers can provide financial education in many ways – bitesize learning, L&D initiatives, interactive workshops and monthly webinars deep-diving into topics like pensions planning or seasonal financial challenges are just some of the options available.

But is it an employer’s responsibility? It’s easy to brush off but consider this: presenteeism (underperformance while still physically turning up to work) caused by underlying financial concerns costs businesses over £10 million annually. So, not providing support will likely cost more in the long term than would be spent on education.

Discover why financial literacy should be a board level concern in our recent blog ‘Is financial literacy missing from your HR strategy?’

 4. Budgeting tools and financial planning support

Budgeting tools are digital platforms that help employees track income, monitor spending patterns, and plan their finances effectively. These solutions provide realtime visibility of earnings, expenses, and financial commitments in one accessible location.

For employees, budgeting tools reduce financial stress by enabling better money management and informed spending decisions. They gain clarity over pay timing and can help align expenses with income effectively. Additionally, financially confident employees are more engaged and focused at work.

Discover Track, a budgeting tool included in Zellis’ financial wellbeing solution.

5. Payroll-linked savings schemes

A payroll deduction savings plan is an automated system that deducts predetermined amounts directly from employees’ salaries into dedicated savings accounts. This “pay yourself first” approach removes the need for manual transfers, making regular saving effortless and consistent.

Automated savings were the most requested feature employees want to see their employer offer in our research. Unsurprising, considering they build financial resilience without requiring willpower or remembering to transfer money. This helps to build an emergency fund – a crucial resilience lifeline for when the unexpected happens.

Discover How payroll saving schemes make a real difference to employee wellbeing.

6. Flexible pay (earned wage access)

Flexible pay (earned wage access) provides employees access to wages they’ve already earned before traditional payday, eliminating the need for expensive payday loans or credit cards during cash flow gaps.

This can be a valuable lifeline for managing unexpected expenses. For employees with variable hours or fluctuating income, flexible pay provides better control over their earnings timeline, supporting better budgeting and peace of mind.

Uncover the scenarios where flexible pay provides a safety net for employees. 

7. Emergency financial support and hardship funds

Employer-backed emergency funds and short-term loans provide immediate financial support during unexpected crises like medical bills or car repairs, offering employees quick access to affordable credit without high-interest alternatives.

These programmes can help break the employee financial stress cycle by providing crucial lifelines that prevent debt spirals and maintain financial stability. These lifelines can be offered by partnering with financial providers or establishing company-funded employee assistance programmes (EAPs) that offer accessible, low-cost alternatives to predatory lending during financial emergencies.  

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Conclusion: Building a holistic financial wellbeing strategy that works 

These seven financial wellbeing solutions work most effectively as part of a comprehensive strategy, addressing different aspects of employee financial stress whilst delivering measurable business benefits: reduced absenteeism, improved productivity, enhanced retention, and competitive advantages. 

As an HR leader, are you delivering financial wellbeing or financial stress? Try our Employee Financial Wellbeing Calculator to assess your current tactics and identify improvement areas.

Key takeaways

• Financial stress costs UK businesses 18 million working hours per year, with employee financial anxiety directly impacting productivity, retention, and team performance. 

• Organisations investing in financial wellbeing see measurable returns through reduced absenteeism, improved productivity, enhanced retention, and competitive advantages in talent acquisition. 

• HR leaders should evaluate their current offerings using tools like the Employee Financial Wellbeing Calculator to identify gaps and prioritize which solutions will deliver the biggest impact for their workforce. 

• Financial wellbeing solutions are most effective when implemented together as building blocks of a comprehensive, holistic strategy. 

Check how well you’re doing, now

Discover which solutions your employees need most by completing our Employee Financial Wellbeing calculator.