What financial wellbeing support do employees actually value?
Financial wellbeing support works best when it reflects real life: helping employees make everyday money go further, manage a budget, understand pensions and prepare for major life events. The strongest approach combines accessible tools, savings and expert support employees can use as their needs change. The UK Savings Week campaign encourages people to find a way of saving that works for them, while recognising not everyone can save right now. For employers, the lesson is clear: offer practical support that helps people feel more in control of their money.
Quick answer: what financial wellbeing support do employees value?
Employees need different types of financial wellbeing support at different moments. A useful strategy should give people ways to:
- Make everyday money go further through cost-saving benefits, employee discounts and cashback.
- Manage money and budgets more easily with accessible digital tools.
- Build financial knowledge and confidence through education and guidance.
- Get appropriate expert support when financial decisions become more complex.
- Plan for the future, including savings, pensions, investments and retirement.
- Find that support easily, rather than navigating multiple disconnected services.
In a hurry? Here are our top three takeaways from our blog on what financial wellbeing support employees actually value.
1. Start with employee needs, not a list of benefits: Understand the financial moments your workforce faces, then build support around different circumstances and life stages.
2. Balance immediate value with longer-term support: Discounts and cashback can help employees make their money go further today, while education, guidance and expert support build confidence for bigger financial decisions.
3. Make support easy to find, access and use: Connect savings, tools, benefits and specialist guidance in one accessible experience. The value of a financial wellbeing strategy depends on whether employees can use the right support when they need it
Got time to stick around? Let's dive a little deeper.
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What is financial wellbeing support?
Financial wellbeing support is a combination of workplace benefits, tools, education, and access to appropriate guidance that helps employees manage their money today, prepare for unexpected costs, and build greater confidence about their financial future.
That distinction is important, and you can read more about this in our blog, ‘What is employee financial wellbeing? A practical guide for UK employers’.
Let’s sum it up: Financial wellbeing isn't the same as simply having more money. Nor is it just an employee discount scheme, financial education webinar or pension.
People can face very different challenges.
One employee might be trying to reduce the cost of their regular spending. Another might be building an emergency fund. Someone else may be trying to understand their pension, buy a home or decide whether they're financially ready to retire.
That gives employers a better starting point, and it's time to shift the narrative.
Don't ask, "Which financial wellbeing benefit should we offer?"
Ask: "What financial moments do our people need help with?"
Quick takeaway:
The strongest financial wellbeing strategies make different types of support easy to access, from education and saving to debt advice and later-life planning.
What are some simple ways to provide staff with cost-saving benefits?
Some of the simplest cost-saving employee benefits include employee discounts, cashback on everyday spending, salary sacrifice benefits and making existing money-saving benefits easier to find and use.
Let's make that more practical.
| Approach | Employee need | Potential value |
| Employee discounts | Reduce the cost of planned purchases | Savings on everyday and bigger-ticket spending |
| Cashback | Get more back from regular spending | Value linked to purchases employees already make |
| Salary sacrifice benefits | Access selected products or services differently | Potential savings where an eligible scheme applies |
| Centralised benefits access | Find existing support easily | Less friction between employee and benefit |
| Financial information and guidance | Make more informed money decisions | Supports confidence as well as immediate savings |
Employee discounts and cashback are particularly impactful because they can create value around spending that is already happening.
Our recent article, 'Why everyday savings are becoming a workplace benefit priority,' goes deeper into that argument, including how employee discounts and cashback can support groceries, travel, technology, family activities and other everyday costs.
The point we're making in this blog is slightly different: An everyday saving is an entry point into financial wellbeing, rather than the entire financial wellbeing strategy.
We’re moving the conversation from: "Here's a discount," to "Here's one way to get more from the money you're already spending."
Quick takeaway:
Start with value employees can feel now. Then make it easy for them to discover support for what comes next.
How can employers support financial wellbeing?
Employers can support financial wellbeing by combining fair pay with practical cost-saving benefits, financial education, easy access to appropriate guidance and support that reflects employees' different circumstances and life stages.
The important word is combine. Discounts alone won't solve every financial challenge, nor will a webinar or a standalone budgeting tool. It’s also essential not to do anything in isolation, or, more specifically, invest in a financial wellbeing initiative before understanding what your workforce needs.
Before you can take action, you need to understand. Get a grip on what you have, where you have it, what comes in and what goes out.
Charlotte Walters, Chartered Financial Planner on the Pluxee UK podcast.
We’re not alone in this opinion:
- CIPD says employers should assess and diagnose employee needs before designing interventions, then implement, embed, evaluate and evolve their approach.
- MaPS takes a similarly broad approach, recommending education and signposting, suitable financial products, assessment of existing provision, accessible support at key moments and, where appropriate, external providers.
In practice, that can look something like this:
- When an employee is managing everyday costs: Help them find ways to reduce spending through relevant discounts and cashback.
- When they want to take control of their money: Give them accessible tools and information that can support budgeting and financial confidence.
- When life changes: Make it easier to find guidance relevant to things like buying a home, changing family circumstances or thinking about retirement.
- When decisions become more complex: Provide a clear route towards appropriate professional guidance rather than expecting an employee to work everything out alone.
The key to running a successful financial wellbeing support initiative is connecting those experiences in one easy-to-access platform.
How do digital platforms offer financial wellbeing support for employees?
Digital employee platforms can support financial wellbeing by bringing money-saving benefits, financial tools, information and routes to specialist support into one accessible employee experience. That's important because a benefit employees can't find is unlikely to create much value.
The Pluxee Employee Experience App brings employee benefits, rewards, savings, recognition and wellbeing into one place, creating the opportunity for financial wellbeing to become an experience rather than a collection of disconnected products.
For example, someone could use the Pluxee Employee Experience app to discover hundreds of available savings. At the same time, the financial wellbeing proposition can connect employees with different forms of support as their circumstances change.
Offering the right support at the right time is vital, and we’ve structured our Financial Wellbeing Hub, powered by Attivo, around different stages of financial life, covering areas including investing, tax planning, pensions and retirement. Employees can also access a free, no-obligation initial consultation with an Attivo Financial Planner.
While they’re in the app, they can also access free mortgage advice with Kind Wealth, alongside discounts on financial planning support, and those ready to grow their pot can get discounts on investing once they’ve opened their free Quilter Invest account.
So rather than saying: “Here's our financial wellbeing benefit,” the employee experience can increasingly say: "Here's support that's relevant to what you're trying to do with your money right now."
Quick takeaway:
A digital financial wellbeing platform creates more value when it connects everyday actions with relevant support, rather than simply displaying a long list of benefits.
What are the best apps for financial wellbeing support and budgeting?
The best financial wellbeing app depends on what someone is trying to achieve. A budgeting app may help track spending, but workplace financial wellbeing can go further by connecting budgeting and everyday savings with benefits, education and specialist support.
That distinction matters for employers looking for the best apps for financial wellbeing support and budgeting.
Keep it simple. Write it all down, know what comes in, know what goes out. That’s it.
Charlotte Walters, Chartered Financial Planner on the Pluxee UK podcast.
Consumer budgeting apps are generally assessed around functions such as creating budgets, tracking spending and setting savings goals. A workplace solution should answer a broader question: Does this help employees take useful action?
| If an employee wants to... | Useful support might include... |
| Understand where money is going | Spending and budgeting tools |
| Reduce everyday costs | Discounts and cashback |
| Make their budget stretch further | Money-saving benefits |
| Build financial knowledge | Education, tools and guidance |
| Navigate a major financial decision | Appropriate expert support |
| Plan for later life | Pensions and retirement guidance |
Where does the Pluxee Employee Experience sit in the world of financial support and budgeting apps?
The Pluxee App brings benefits, savings, rewards, recognition and wellbeing together rather than operating solely as a standalone budgeting application. That said, employees with access to the Employee Assistance Programme via the app will be able to access online budgeting tools, and even speak to an Information Specialist about money matters – think contesting a parking ticket, discussing benefits entitlement or support managing debt.
The Pluxee Card adds an impactful everyday-money layer. It’s a prepaid cashback card powered by Visa that employees must actively top up, and they can use it to ensure they have enough for essential spending. For example, they could preload the card at the beginning of the month with the amount they’ll need to cover the grocery shop and earn cashback on that spend via one of our supermarket partners.
Some clients also encourage their workforce to use it to set money aside for the extra cost of Christmas.
Financial wellbeing changes as life changes
Financial wellbeing rarely follows a neat, predictable path. One employee may be working out how to make their first salary last until payday. Another may be juggling childcare and a mortgage, while someone else is wondering whether they can afford to retire. Their priorities are different, so the support they value will be different too.
That's why our partnerships with Attivo, Kind Wealth and Quilter take a life-stage approach. We’ve got your employees covered whether they’re starting out, planting roots, building a nest egg, getting ready to retire, and every moment in between.
With the Pluxee Employee Experience Platform, businesses can give their people a place to start, wherever they happen to be.
The result is a more useful way to think about financial wellbeing: Everyday value when employees need it. More specialist support when life demands it.
From providing benefits to creating value employees actually feel
During UK Savings Week, there will rightly be plenty of conversation about savings accounts, rainy-day funds and building positive savings habits. The official campaign focuses on helping people find their own way to save, while making it clear that some people may not currently be able to start saving.
Employers should take that same inclusive approach.
Telling somebody under financial pressure that they ought to save more isn't financial wellbeing support.
However, helping them reduce an everyday expense is the gateway to helping them have a little spare each month, opening up the option to save for their futures – that is what true support looks like because it has lasting impact.
Add education and guidance to the mix, and you’re giving them somewhere to turn when they're making a significant financial decision.
What matters is whether the support fits real life.
That's ultimately what financial wellbeing should be designed around: not how many products sit inside a benefits package, but whether an employee can find something useful when they need it.
Key takeaway:
The financial wellbeing support employees value most isn't necessarily one benefit. It's an experience that helps them make their money go further today, manage it with greater confidence and access the right support as their needs change.
Everyday savings can provide an immediate reason to engage. Digital access can make support easier to find. Expert partners can help employees navigate more complex financial moments.
Bring those together, and financial wellbeing moves from something an employer provides to value an employee can actually experience.
FAQs
What is employee financial wellbeing support?
Employee financial wellbeing support combines workplace benefits, tools, education and access to appropriate guidance to help people manage everyday costs, prepare for unexpected expenses and make informed longer-term financial decisions.
What financial wellbeing benefits do employees value most?
Employees are likely to value support they can use in real life, including everyday discounts and cashback, budgeting and savings tools, financial education, pensions information and clear routes to specialist guidance when decisions become more complex.
How can employers support financial wellbeing?
Employers can combine fair pay with practical cost-saving benefits, accessible money tools, education and appropriate guidance. Starting with workforce needs and life stages helps make that support more relevant.
How do digital platforms improve financial wellbeing support?
A digital platform can bring savings, benefits, budgeting tools, information and routes to specialist support into one accessible experience. This reduces friction and helps employees find relevant support when they need it.
Why should financial wellbeing support reflect different life stages?
Financial priorities change over time. One employee may need help with budgeting or everyday costs, while another may be buying a home, supporting a family, investing or preparing for retirement. Life-stage relevance makes support more useful.
Related articles:
Why everyday savings are becoming a workplace benefit priority
What benefits help employees cope with the rising cost of living?
What is employee financial wellbeing? A practical guide for UK employers
Financial wellbeing at work: Build trust & support productivity
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