Flexible working as part of financial wellbeing - explained

Sign up for our latest employee benefits webinar

Wellbeing is on everyone’s mind at the moment.

And that means your employees.

Our latest survey of HR professionals, carried out last year, offers a snapshot to the areas they believe are most important to their people. Here, we compare it to the answers for our 2020 research.

Given that the pandemic mandated flexible working, where possible, it’s not surprising it was top of the list three years ago. Even now, it’s a clear imperative for business across the UK.

But what does that mean in practice?

We’ve spent four decades advising businesses on pensions and retirement benefits. It’s one of the reasons we set up Aspire to Retire in the first place, so they can help their people to grasp planning for later life.

Flexible working has particular relevance for 50-somethings. A good number are more likely to be looking after both offspring and elderly relatives and this work pattern can be beneficial in this regard.

So our latest webinar will look at how you, as an employer, can put in place the framework to get the best from this group.

We will look at:

• Flexible working. Including reduced hours; work from home; mix of home and office. Older workers are often squeezed caring for both younger and older relatives. Unless there’s flexibility, they could leave.

• Later life care. Expanding on the first point, providing access to professionals to advise on how to access and fund care for elderly family members.

• Sabbaticals. Open to anyone but more likely to be used by older employees who perhaps need time to recharge.

• Role change. Frank conversations can result in an experienced colleague moving to a new, less critical post but, crucially, your organisation retains their knowledge.

• Reverse mentoring. Junior colleagues (often younger) mentor senior people (often older) so both gain valuable insight to “standing in someone else’s shoes”.

Flexible working, like financial wellbeing, can, in our view, be brandished as ready-made solutions, lacking explanation of what they actually entail. Join our webinar where we will translate this element of these buzzwords into practical application.