Technology, AI, and wellbeing: Boost employee financial health 

Are technology, AI, and wellbeing compatible? With the right tools and a smart approach, organisations have an opportunity to improve employee financial wellbeing – and enjoy the engagement and productivity benefits this brings.

In this article

The current state of play 

The role of financial wellbeing tools 

How to bring together technology, AI, and wellbeing

Conclusion and key takeaways

The current state of play 

In the battle to secure and retain the brightest talent, employee wellbeing is a hot topic. And as the cost-of-living remains high, financial wellbeing in particular is a significant challenge. 45% of employees with financial worries say they’re losing sleep and performing worse at work. 

Wellbeing is a multi-factor issue, but finances play a critical role. To build a healthy, happy workforce, employers need to empower their employees. 

As digital transformation efforts mature, businesses are exploiting data across every function. For HR, this is an opportunity to not only better understand their people, but to offer new payroll tools to their colleagues too. Digital solutions and AI in HR take these new services to the next level. 

The role of financial wellbeing tools 

Financial wellbeing can be as complicated as your employees’ finances. But with a suite of carefully selected financial wellbeing tools, employers can play a crucial role in helping their workforce.  

At the most fundamental level, these tools must provide greater transparency, allowing employees to fully understand their pay. Additional features can give them greater control over their financial destiny. 

What does that look like? Advanced digital payslips can provide explainer information and granular insights. Employees can monitor how their salary fluctuates over time, and the effect of any upcoming legislative changes or payroll deductions.  

When an unexpected bill comes up, tools like earned wage access allow them to arrange an advance instantly. Similarly, payroll savings tools make it easy to create a ‘rainy day fund’, or to make additional pension contributions. Handy, as 41% of employees want to be able to build savings directly from the point of payroll. 

How to bring together technology, AI, and wellbeing

Automation and AI have dozens of use cases, some more valuable than others. Technology is superb for tasks that involve interpreting large volumes of data or which require repetition. And this is where AI delivers its first wellbeing and engagement gains. 

Take care of the routine 

By automating routine tasks, AI immediately reduces the burden on your HR and payroll teams. The time saved can be reinvested in other, more strategic tasks, which will improve engagement.  

By removing humans from repetitive tasks, you also reduce the potential for human error. Realtime payroll, for example, improves accuracy, ensures compliance and reduces costly errors. It also helps lower stress for employees who would normally have to do those tasks. 

That’s not to say AI should replace your employees – finance remains deeply personal and human-to-human interactions are vital for building trust and loyalty. However, AI is a powerful tool to enhance productivity. 

Deliver genuine self-service 

How much of your teams’ time is taken up answering the same few payroll queries from your colleagues? It may be hard to define a specific number, but chances are it’s much more time than you want.

AI chatbots offer an effective and accurate solution. With the ability to understand unstructured queries, they can provide colleagues with timely and accurate answers to payroll queries. Not only will this free up HR and payroll teams, but it also means less anxiety and a better employee experience for colleagues seeking answers to their pay questions.  

Learn more about our self-service HR and payroll software.

Empower employees with financial control 

Integrated tools like pay transparency, budgeting, and savings plans help employees manage their finances better, leading to increased satisfaction and productivity. Retention also gets a boost: 83% of employees would be more likely to stay in a job where such tools are available.  

Effective financial wellbeing tools create a more efficient and supportive payroll system for both organisations and employees. 

Keep an eye on developments in AI and wellbeing

AI, like financial wellbeing tools, continues to evolve at a rapid pace. The systems are becoming smarter and more capable, offering employers more opportunities to support their workforce.  

Conclusion: Harness technology, enhance wellbeing

As we’ve seen, technology, AI and wellbeing are compatible. Artificial intelligence is already changing every aspect of every business – including HR and payroll. As financial wellbeing grows in importance, employers should embrace digital technology, automation, and AI to drive up efficiency, satisfaction – and wellbeing

• Advancing technology, including AI, offers the opportunity to enhance employee wellbeing and engagement.
• Effective use of AI in HR should complement your people, and improve the employee experience.

• Smart financial wellbeing tools will give your employees greater control over their own financial destiny. 

• Technology raises overall wellbeing by helping people be more productive and engaged, and less busy with repetitive tasks. 

• AI chatbots empower colleagues to get answers to queries quickly and accurately – without burdening the payroll department. 

Ready to boost employee engagement? 

Get this financial wellbeing report and learn how a few smart moves can enhance engagement and raise your employees’ game.