Setting your employees up for success in 2024

 As we crack into a new year, anticipation for an exciting 2024 is building! However, many employees are coming into the year with anxiety, stress and financial strain. With the rising cost of living, conflicts across the world and other significant events that are putting strain on employees, it’s never been more important to set your employees up for success!

At Footprint, we understand that employees are the driving force behind any organisation, but more importantly, we also understand how to best support them! 

In this blog, we will outline three hot tips relevant to the current times on how to build support around employees so that they are set up to succeed.

Support Employee Financial Wellbeing

Some employees may be feeling the crunch right now! Money is top of mind for many, and it’s highly likely that this pressure will continue for the rest of this year. 

You may be wondering… how do I support my people with their personal finances? A great starting point is to include financial wellbeing support with your existing employee benefits programme.

Footprint Connect offers financial wellbeing support for employees, and helps you prepare your people for life’s big maybes! We’ve created a platform that integrates learning with digital innovation and provides self-paced learning, resources and tools that help with financial planning and literacy, resulting in improved financial wellbeing.

Embrace Technology

Think technology and digital solutions are for young people only? Think again!

“Baby boomers are generally less likely to have everything digitised, but they are increasingly open to making or updating their Wills online. They have social media accounts and do their banking and other core services online, so they have plenty of fluency in that world even though they are not digital natives.” - Belinda Heunis, Chief Business Officer of Footprint.

In recent years we’ve seen huge leaps in technological innovation and advancements in every aspect of our lives. This is an exciting time for many tech enthusiasts, but some employees may feel as though their job is threatened by this.

We’re of the opinion that people leaders should be looking to embrace technology and utilise it in a way that supports all employees to be more productive, produce higher quality work, improve consistency, and so much more! 

Just like most things, financial wellbeing is now available as digital tools, such as Footprint Connect which empowers employees to take charge of their wellbeing, learning and development as they are able to engage with this resource 24/7 from anywhere, even the comfort of their own home! This employee wellbeing support resource has been tried, tested and loved by some of Aotearoa’s leading organisations, so we highly recommend giving it a go!

So… what else can I do on top of partnering with Footprint? We suggest consulting with your employees, whether they are an intern or a director, they may be aware of digital tools that they have used in the past or that may work with their current role. In doing so, you will have a great starting point for investigating new tools that support your employees or replace old tools with new ones. 

The extra benefit? Employee anxiety around being ‘replaced’ by new technology can decrease, as the narrative around technology has shifted to ‘help us to help you with exciting new technology’!

Cultivate a Culture of Continuous Learning

Whether it’s evolving industry trends or flashy new technology, the landscape in which we operate is always changing. The skills that are sufficient today may not be enough in the near future, so it’s extremely important to foster a culture of continuous learning in our employees.

A culture of learning not only uplifts employee morale but also safeguards your organisation's competitive edge! In a dynamic and competitive market, an organisation’s employees' adaptability can mean the difference between sinking or swimming, as was clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Some changes that you can implement as a people leader to foster this culture are to provide mentorship schemes, utilise e-learning platforms that offer flexible study, organise free workshops and celebrate the achievements of employees.

For current Footprint employee benefit partners, keep in mind that even if you had shared this resource with your team last year, we encourage you to remind them of this support as they get into the rhythm of a new year to re-ignite their utilisation of this resource.

If you’re not already offering Footprint employee wellbeing solutions for your people, we encourage you to explore what we have to offer! From bite-sized financial learning resources to wellbeing guides, we empower employees to take charge of their financial preparedness and wellbeing!