Three ways cloud HR software can help you support staff with the cost of living

Blue Monday is a concept which started back in 2005, detailing the most depressing day of the year (the third Monday of January).

This year, Blue Monday is on the 20/01/2025.

The theory behind Blue Monday is that many people struggle following the Christmas and New Year rush.

A post-festive slump impacts morale, making up part of the difficulty, but there are also challenges with finances after such a costly period.

Additionally, some employers may provide an early payday in December to support with Christmas shopping, leaving many with an extended wait for their next payslip.

However, the UK has been facing a cost-of-living crisis for a number of years now, and while inflation is down from the 11.1% high in October 2022, that doesn’t indicate prices are falling, rather they are rising less quickly.

While gimmicky terms such as Blue Monday pose a reminder to check in and support staff, it is vital employers keep staff financial wellbeing front-of-mind as this cost-of-living crisis shows no sign of ending.

What can be done? How can businesses help staff manage the continued financial pressure?

I had the pleasure of hosting a webinar with our amazing HR director, Lizzy Barry, and brilliant HR product expert, Stuart Bates, discussing how cloud HR software can empower businesses to support their staff with the current cost of living.

The impact of financial stress on the workplace

As Lizzy highlighted during our session, when staff are facing money-related stress, they tend to bring it with them into the workplace.

In fact, People Management found that financial stress has a direct impact on anxiety and productivity, causing 27% of employees to experience brain fog.

This can have an enormous knock-on effect on their overall wellbeing, job satisfaction and colleague interactions.

Workplace initiatives to support with the cost of living

As nice as it would be, many businesses can't simply throw money at this challenge.

While employees are struggling, businesses are also feeling the pinch.

However, there are a few initiatives backed by good HR software, which you can trial to help support staff with the cost of living.

Advanced bonus payments

An initiative we ran at IRIS to help staff during the peak of the cost-of-living crisis was offering an advanced bonus payment.

As with many other businesses, bonuses are paid on a yearly basis.

But in a bid to support those struggling, we asked staff if they'd like to advance the annual bonus payout, offering the option to either keep their bonus as a singular payment in the summer or to have £500 paid now/split up across five £100 monthly instalments. 

To facilitate this, we used the survey functionality within our cloud HR software, to contact our entire workforce and pose this question.

Staff were sent a direct email, which then took them into the HR software where they could answer the survey and select what would work best.

The benefit of using survey functionality within your HR software rather than a third-party app is the responses are automatically linked to each employee’s record, not only removing any additional manual data entry but also providing the opportunity for you to analyse and report on the data.

During the session, Stuart demoed the reporting functionality within IRIS Cascade, showcasing how you could present and analyse data from such an initiative – watch our full session here.

Podcast: How to have cost of living conversations with staff

Listen here

Varied employee benefits

There's no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to supporting staff; each employee will have their own unique needs.

As such, taking a blanket approach to your employee benefits often alienates some groups or offers little use to others.

We advise you to provide varied benefit packages, enabling employees to select what works best for them and giving them more power to tackle needs and difficulties in their own lives.

For example, offer core benefits such as pensions and healthcare but allow employees to choose additional benefits which could help ease financial burdens such as private dental care or critical illness coverage.

You want people to choose what is most meaningful to them, based on their current circumstances.

Often, when it comes to the time of year to choose benefits, the deadlines can easily slip past employees, resulting in them missing out on something incredibly useful.

Use your HR software to send regular communications, directly to staff, informing them of what is on offer and when the deadline is to decide, with frequent reminders in the run-up.

You can also use the survey functionality within your cloud HR software to check in with your workforce and hear directly from them about what benefits they would like to see.

Financial wellbeing training

Another option for supporting employees is to offer financial education workshops or online courses.

These programs can teach employees essential money management skills, such as budgeting, saving and investing.

As such, staff can make more informed financial decisions and feel in greater control of their finances.

Through HR software, you can manage the training you have on offer, including this financial education.

HR software can also track engagement and participation, giving you valuable insights into what’s working and where improvements can be made.

The importance of appropriate workplace rewards and recognition

The cost of living has been an ongoing challenge for a number of years now.

However, offering appropriate rewards in the workplace is a necessity for more reasons than competing with the rising costs we are seeing.

Of course, people need enough money to live, but they also need a workplace that respects them.

Treating employees fairly and reflecting that in the rewards and recognition on offer has an enormous impact on your recruitment and retention.

People want to work for an employer who actually cares about them, and those who make a genuine effort will no doubt see a major difference in the number of people who want to work for them and actually stick around for the long term.

For more detail on the above and to see a demo of how cloud HR software works in these scenarios, watch the full session with Lizzy and Stuart here.