The Greeks said that Resilo means “to fall backward and bounce,” in other words, to recover from difficulties. Now, in times of uncertainty, Human Resources experts have managed to apply this concept to the personal finances of employees. According to BBVA, “financial resilience is a person’s ability to face life events that negatively affect their income or assets. To overcome financial crises, it is necessary to implement strategies that minimize the effects of tough times.”
Many Human Resources leaders wonder why they should be concerned about teaching this concept to their employees. The answer is simple: 80% of employees already have skyrocketing stress levels due to uncertainty about job continuity. Unfortunately, their concern is valid, as it is estimated that four out of ten Latin Americans are losing their jobs, and half of them will not be able to return to their previous income levels. With this outlook, it is obvious that financial stress is high, and according to PwC, companies are seeing their productivity affected by 48%.
Once this phenomenon is understood, it is essential for companies to identify the main causes of financial stress in order to provide concrete tools that foster Resilo and help get productivity back on track. Among the main causes are absenteeism, loss of motivation, more errors in tasks, turnover, and lack of concentration. Many companies are already starting to take action, incorporating a “financial well-being” block into their strategic plans to become a healthy organization. However, this still falls short.
When we talk about financial well-being, most organizations have chosen to offer short talks on personal finance and savings. But beyond this content, the majority of workers need help developing new habits, such as self-control, optimism, acceptance, the ability to find new opportunities, calmness, responsibility, and the capacity to start over. All of this requires organizations to provide much more advanced tools than what we are currently seeing. The first step is to ensure that our HR and training departments not only understand these concepts but also have significant resources allocated to keeping up with a subject that is constantly evolving.
Among the efforts that should be increased are ongoing financial education courses, but beyond that, we must have experts who can offer individual advice, preventive therapy for stress, and open dialogue between leaders and employees, among others. It is also crucial to provide legal credit products that keep employees away from informal loan sharks who constantly extort them.
Remember: if we help our employees develop these skills, we will directly impact our companies’ productivity and contribute to building a better society.
