Advisers in ‘great position’ to work with businesses

Speaking to ifa regarding new research conducted by the business, Map My Plan founder Paul Feeney said there was an unmet need for financial wellbeing support from Australian employers.

“Almost two-thirds of managers that we surveyed see the financial wellbeing of their staff as being critical or very important, yet less than 20 per cent plan on doing something for their staff, so there’s a real mismatch there,” he said.

Additionally, Map My Plan’s Financial Stress in the Australian Workplace paper found that 58 per cent of working Australians want access to support resources, but only 14 per cent of employers provide these currently.

“It’s almost a moral obligation for employers to give their employees a hand; we all like to go to work and get mental stimulation and do great work and be engaged, but very few of us do it for free, we do it because we want to improve our lot in life for ourselves and our family, and more money is not the answer – it’s what you do with it.”

Mr Feeney said advisers are well placed to fill this gap but will need to be innovative in order to meet the needs of employees.

“They’re [advisers] are in a great position because a lot of advisers I know deal with senior executives within firms, and if you really push down and ask those managers they’d love to be able to get everyone of their staff to access this advice, but it’s a matter of how you do it, and you can’t do it through a face-to-face model,” he said.

“You’ve got to be in a position where you’re just providing the information at the time people need it to make a well-informed decision. That’s where I see it going, and more and more individuals want control themselves, but want to be able to come and say ‘expert in XYZ, can you give me a hand with this?’”.