3 Keys to Easily Embed Financial Wellness Benefits Into HR Apps

With 78% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, many employees walk a financial tightrope each month to cover various bills and rising living costs. Faced with this mounting stress, jobs that offer financial wellness benefits are standing out in the battle to attract and retain workers. This trend is especially prevalent in industries experiencing labor shortages, such as health care, manufacturing and construction.

Forward-thinking companies have found that meeting the present needs of employees with emergency savings accounts, student loan repayment matching and online financial literacy classes can help them manage their spending more effectively, which means happier and more productive workers.

Meanwhile, earned wage access provides a reprieve for employees by bridging the gap between payday and when bills or unexpected expenses are due. Interest and investment in financial wellness benefits are steadily increasing – 68% of employees said they used financial wellness benefits provided by their employers in 2023, up from 51% in 2022, illustrating growing demand and usage.

It’s a promising sign that 80% of companies that offered financial wellness benefits last year said they plan to invest even more in 2024.

It may seem obvious, but it’s a point that sometimes gets overlooked: Benefits are only valuable if employees actually use them. Every HR professional knows it can be incredibly frustrating to get buy-in for a new offering, roll it out and then see that it goes unused.

Nearly half of professionals are confused by their employee benefits, which means they’re probably not using them to the fullest. No matter how robust your training and rollout process is, the fact is that employees do not have time or energy to learn how to use yet another new app or tool in their workplace tech stack. They are already busy with their day-to-day job responsibilities, so every minute they spend trying to update their direct deposit information or log into the health insurance portal takes away from their productivity. The undeniable truth is that workers are more likely to use tools that are simpler and fit seamlessly into a product they already use.

But instead of a using a separate financial wellness benefits app, there’s a new approach of integrating embedded finance (the same thing that allows you to make in-app payments in the Uber app) directly into existing HR platforms. This means employees can access these benefits without needing a separate app or login, making them more user-friendly and likely to be used.

Embedded financial wellness benefits have the potential to benefit both employees and employers. For employees, it provides easier access to tools that can improve their financial health. For employers, it can lead to a more engaged and productive workforce.

Financial Wellness Benefits Need to be Easy to Use

Employees are suffering from app fatigue, with an average of 18 mobile apps already on their phones. Now add all the tools and websites they need to use for their jobs for scheduling, time tracking, training and many more. People simply do not want the hassle of downloading an additional app and managing yet another login, given the average person is already keeping track of 168 passwords.

Nearly half of employees say that easy-to-use benefits tools can improve their engagement at work. If the product is designed right, the employee onboarding process should require little training. The easier it is for employees to engage with financial wellness benefits, the more likely it is to drive greater usage and higher ROI.

Reducing HR Headaches

In addition to making it easier for employees to access resources, embedded financial wellness benefits can reduce strain on HR departments, which is crucial as 44% of HR professionals report feeling burned out at the end of their workdays.

When evaluating potential financial wellness benefits partners, ask if the solution can fit seamlessly within your existing human capital management or workforce management platform.

Next-generation HR platforms with embedded finance integrations include features like usage dashboards and analytics. These provide at-a-glance insights into how employees are utilizing various financial wellness benefits and services, allowing your team to make data-driven decisions and report back to executive stakeholders. The right tech at your fingertips can transform benefits management from a time-consuming burden into a strategic tool for employee satisfaction and efficiency.

Staying Ahead of the Compliance Curve

Embedded finance is still evolving and involves regulations specific to finance and fintech companies. For example, each state has its own laws concerning on-demand pay.

Partnering with a financial wellness benefit provider that understands these regulations – and stays ahead of the curve to ensure their technology remains compliant in the long term – is crucial to ensure compliance and avoid disruptions if laws change.

Compliant embedded finance also brings peace of mind to your legal department, which can help support buy-in at the executive level.

Embracing the Inevitable Embedded Future

The rise of embedded finance in HR tech is not just a passing trend — it’s a transformative shift that will reshape how employee benefits are delivered.

By making financial wellness benefits programs more accessible and user-friendly, employees can meet their goals and companies can improve employee well-being and gain a competitive edge.