Inflation is an unavoidable reality for both employees and their employers. But when it reaches a 40-year high, it becomes a burden that significantly affects the everyday realities of life.
With prices climbing and buying power shrinking, what can employers do to support their deskless employees? Let’s explore five things you can try today.
Why employers should care about inflation
When prices rise, the dollar in your pocket won’t buy as much as it used to. Prices go up, but your dollar is still only worth sixty cents.
Need an example? Think of Dollar Tree’s recent move to ditch their famous “Everything’s $1” brand and increase most of their prices to $1.25. Unfortunately, your $1 is not increasing in value to $1.25 to match their price hike.
This means that even if you pay your employees well they’re still going to feel the pinch of inflation. Rising prices means even if you provide a generous salary, it may not feel like enough. This could lead to your employees considering other job opportunities or experiencing stresses that lead to poor performance or absenteeism (more on this below).
So how can you help?
Ask where inflation is felt the most
If you’re trying to support your employees, it’s always a good idea to first find out where they really need support. And who better to ask than your employees themselves?
Whether through one-on-one conversations, group meetings, or surveys, asking your employees directly is the best way to find out what support they need during tough economic times. You could even use a service like Anthill to make it easy for them to provide feedback via text message.
There’s another bonus to going this route: asking your employees helps ensure you get the most accurate understanding of where they need help, but it can also help to build trust with them. And trust goes a long way in workplace relationships, impacting things like employee retention and engagement.
Provide stipends or services to help employees deal with financial challenges
Deskless employees are often on-the-go. They’re you’re Uber drivers, warehouse workers, and healthcare workers. Cashiers. Waiters.
The list goes on.
Many deskless employees are in roles that include variable income. They tend to be hourly or gig-workers, not salaried employees. Given this reality, one way you can support your deskless workers is to provide perks and benefits that make dealing with income swing easier. These resources—like COVERR—can help pay for unexpected expenses so that your team members aren’t overwhelmed.
Services like Compt make it super easy to integrate employee perks into your standard payroll process. Check out this interview Anthill did with Compt CEO Amy Spurling to get a sense of how it works!
Consider offering same day pay
When everything is costing more than it used to, making it a week or two until your next paycheck can feel like scraping butter over too much bread.
That’s why services like Dailypay are helping employers offer their staff same day pay without the risk of predatory payday loans. Employees get the convenience of being able to track how much they’ve earned and deciding how much they want to access early, and all the employer has to do is send that portion of the employee’s pay to Dailypay instead of to the employee.
Couple that convenience with the fact that 83% of workers in the U.S. believe they should have access to their earned wages at the end of each workday, and offering same day pay seems like a no brainer.
Dailypay isn’t the only tool out there that can help with this, but it’s a great example. It integrates with widely-used HRIS and payroll systems like ADP and Kronos, making it easy to get started.
Provide access to financial health resources
According to a recent study by Bank of America, the vast majority of employers agree that providing access to financial health resources helps create a more loyal, engaged, and productive employee base.
On top of that, their survey showed that the financial strain that comes with inflation is creating stress for employees across the board. This stress leads to different types of action, including tapping into savings, working extra hours, and looking for higher paying jobs.
Taken together, this highlights a great way to support your employees during inflation: provide them with access to financial health resources that helps them navigate their options. There are lots of ways to do this—here are a few examples:
- Provide access to a simple budgeting app
- Offer employees free 30-60 minute meetings (in-person or virtually) with a financial advisor
- Have your HR team host a meeting or seminar to review your retirement saving benefits (two-thirds of employees want their employer to help with this!)
Don’t forget about mental health
Financial stress has a significant effect on mental health, so it’s important for employers to consider how they can support their employees in this area as well. Wellbeing is a holistic thing: financial health impacts mental health which impacts physical health and so on.
One way to get started on promoting positive mental health is to intentionally open up a conversation about it at work. When 75% of employees believe there's a stigma around mental health in the workplace, simply beginning a conversation can help diffuse tensions and normalize mental health discussions.
If you have the budget, you can explore options like bringing in a speaker to help stimulate healthy conversation around mental health. Even if you don’t, finding influential internal leaders who are willing to be vulnerable can go a long way.
Another great way to invest in workplace mental health is to find technology that can make it easy and effective. There are lots of great options out there, so it shouldn’t take long for you to find the right fit for your workplace.
All of this investment helps your employees feel better and perform better, but it also brings benefits for employers, such as lower turnover rates, less absenteeism, and appeal to younger talent.
Turn inflation into an opportunity by investing in mental health in your workplace!
Any support is better than no support
Whatever steps you take, remember that any support is better than no support. Even the very intent to find ways to support is a gesture that goes a long way.
However you go about it, find ways to support your deskless employees with inflation on the rise. And if you’re not sure how to best support your employees, schedule a demo of Anthill today. Our software is quick to launch and easy to use, and it’ll help you open up improved lines of communication with your deskless workforce in no time.
