What’s money got to do with mental health?

Here’s how banks can help employers empower, improve their employees’ financial well-being

Have you ever heard of ‘financial stress?’ According to experts, this condition refers to that state of anxiety or emotional tension related to money, debt, and expenses. Money, in fact, is one of the most universal sources of stress. 

In workplaces, financial stress has been found as one of the main concerns that employees around the world contend with every day. With responsibilities to pay off bills, expenses, unexpected circumstances, and even debts, it’s challenging to not worry about finances all the time, especially if a person does not have savings.

In a recent report, Visa revealed that 84% of 1,000 employees are troubled by their finances while working. This situation affects their health, well-being, and productiveness, as stated by 68% of that study’s surveyed individuals.

Employees in the Philippines share this same experience. According to a study by Backbase, at least 51% of 100 surveyed Filipinos said that they’re currently worried about the state of their finances. It also revealed that the Philippines is the leading country when it comes to financial stress in the Asia-Pacific, indicating that 7 in 10 Filipinos find it challenging to manage their debts. 

In most cases, people caught up in these situations resort to borrowing money from their family, friends, or external lenders with interest rates. Another option is to ask for an advance or ‘bale’ from their employers, especially since traditionally, employees receive their salary twice a month on two separate dates. 

Helping navigate through the never normal 

Two years into the pandemic, things became even more challenging for employees due to some limitations, particularly in mobility. Amid these radical changes, banks have been fast-tracking their digital transformation initiatives to improve their mobile and online banking platforms. This move enables customers to transact digitally, like paying utilities and other bills, without the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

It shows how banks continuously innovate their services to assist their customers in managing their wealth while caring for their well-being. And as the pandemic reinforces that health is essential to people in the never normal, it also creates an opportunity for banks to help employers in empowering their employees and address the factors that can affect their overall welfare. 

For instance, there’s a concept that is now fast becoming a global trend that financial institutions can offer as part of their service offerings. This concept is called Earned Wage Access (EWA), a solution that started in the United States but is now seen around the world, enabling employees to access their salary before payday and release their already earned salary with just a click of a button.

EWA can be integrated and offered by banks to their corporate accounts so employers can incorporate it as a benefit for their employees. In 2022, this white-labeled solution will now be available in the Philippines. Thanks to PayKey, a fintech company based in Israel, which will start offering this solution to leading banks next year. 

Through EWA, employees can now access their already earned salaries at any time to pay for their current expenses. It works in simple ways. As a standalone app offered by PayKey for banks, employees can easily see their earned salaries to date. Then, if they want to have an advance on their wages,’ they can just request it through EWA. The requested amount will be transferred to the employee’s bank account as soon as it is approved.

The EWA trend will help employers minimize their workers’ financial stress, which will assist in improving their workplace productivity and employees’ well-being. In addition, as a new type of service for banks, EWA may help encourage unbanked Filipinos to get banked to achieve the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 70 percent goal of Filipinos with bank accounts in 2023.

“EWA is not a loan. It has no interest rate because you’re accessing and withdrawing your earned money. With a fixed transaction fee, it will enable employees to easily advance their wages before payday to pay for their immediate expenses. We hope that with our solution, we can help banks and employers reduce employees’ financial stress and improve their well-being, especially at times like this,” said Roy Gabriel, chief innovation officer, and general manager of PayKey.

To learn more about PayKey, visit its website at https://paykey.com/.