A NatWest programme where companies can help their employees to take control of their finances is going national after a successful trial with thousands of people in the North.
The bank had started offering support and advice to corporate clients whose employees were struggling with financial problems. It began sending its employees into companies to host workshops on areas ranging from debt management to the risks of fraud and scams.
That has grown into a financial wellbeing programme called Financial Foundations, with companies as big as Timpsons and Vodafone taking part. It aims to help companies to help their staff when it comes to financial issues, which people can find embarrassing to talk about.
Last year NatWest delivered 270 workshops to approximately 5,200 people. Now it is expanding the scheme across the Ƶ and aims to reach 52,000 people through the workshops by the end of the year.
Malcolm Buchanan, chair of the NatWest North Regional Board, told BusinessLive that the scheme’s success in the North had encouraged the bank to take it further.
He said: “People can get embarrassed by money if they're in financial difficulty. It can be difficult to chat about. So some of the content of the program is designed to try and help people avoid getting into that situation.
“I went to a customer down in Greater Manchester a few weeks ago with our CFO Katie Murray and watched a couple of colleagues deliver a session to the employees of one of our commercial customers. And the engagement level with it is really, really good. We start off with the basics of budgets, how you manage your credit score, what happens if you enter financial difficulty, how do you keep yourself safe online, how can you avoid scams and fraud.
“People are... I'm not making it up, they're enthralled by the subject matter, because a lot of it is new for them and many people said that they didn't really know where they could go to get impartial advice. We're not selling any product, we're not selling NatWest, just the information on how these things work. And it seems to be landing quite well given the take-up.”
He added: “We've had really great take-up across the whole of the Ƶ actually, we've delivered sessions to about 4,000 people in the north, 11,000 Ƶ wide, and it's growing.”
Research showed 45% of Ƶ adults don’t feel confident managing their money every day.
Meanwhile, money problems are a huge source of worry for Ƶ workers. showed 10% of full-time and part-time employees had missed days at work “due to financial worries”, with 18% of workers feeling a decline in productivity at work due to those worries. The CEBR estimated absenteeism due to financial distress costs Ƶ employers up to £2.5bn per year.
Malcolm said that when he learned of the scale of the challenge of financial education, he realised that an organisation of the same size as NatWest would be well-placed to help.
He said: “We thought that if you take the north region of NatWest, we've got in the region of nine to ten thousand employees. Half of them are based in Manchester. We just felt that we have so many people who have dealt with customers and their money every day of their working life. We've got a lot of experience and we felt that it's something that we could share with the outside world.”
That led the bank to create Financial Foundations as a free service for companies – whether NatWest customers or not – who often have strategies to help employees’ physical and mental wellbeing but perhaps don’t yet have one for financial wellbeing. Maclom said NatWest customers had responded well to the programme.
He said: “They think it's worth its weight in gold because it does help with retention and attraction of employees. Also if their employees are more in control of their finances and feel financially well, then you don't get the absenteeism because they're not distracted by it, and so it gives them more space to be at their best when they're at work.
“And I chatted to a few of the employees that had gone through this session I was at a few weeks ago, and they said that it made them feel more trusting of the company that they work for because they're getting this kind of advice for free.”
NatWest staff who want to take part in the programme can receive training and accreditation to facilitate the sessions. Malcolm said staff of all levels in the bank had been keen to help out.
Some of the areas the programme covers include how to budget, what people’s relationship with money is like, whether people are “spenders or saves”, and how credit scores work. Another key element is how to handle debt and where you should go if you are in financial difficulty.
Malcolm said that the bank was extending Financial Foundations because staff felt it was the right thing to do.
He said: “It's something that we can slot in around the day job. It's something that will impact on our customers and our employees. So it is just a win-win-win all around really.
“And it would seem from the feedback, a lot of the people who go through the program feel the same way. I think 95% of people who have gone through the workshops would recommend it to a friend or a family member. And 91% of people that have been through them have said that it has made them feel more confident in handling their money.
“So we're not in it for the glory, we're not in it for commercial benefit. But we think it's just a good thing…if you can help people to learn to deal with life's basics, then it kind of makes things better generally, doesn't it?”
Law firm says programme ‘really makes a difference’
The managing director of a law firm that took part in NatWest’s Financial Foundations project says it “has really made a difference” to his team.
Cheshire-based Rowlinsons Solicitors offered two sessions to colleagues last year after a conversation between MD Andrew Graves and his commercial relationship manager at NatWest.
Rowlinsons Solicitors has offices in Frodsham, Cheshire, and in Sutton Weaver, Runcorn, and employs 60 people. Around half its staff have joined the Financial Foundations sessions and Andrew says the feedback has been positive.
He added: “There can always be a degree of scepticism when something like this is offered but the feedback we received from those who attended is that it has really made a difference and given them some more confidence around money issues. It was also pitched at an accessible level.
“From conversations with our teams, a number of staff then went on to have one to one sessions with the workshop facilitators, so the activity has clearly been of value.”
He added: “I have to say it is quite different and offers staff access to insight and information which we would be unable to deliver internally. It adds value in a positive and different way.”
