With 2022 dubbed as ‘The Year of the Squeeze’ due to rising energy and living prices and 93% of us feeling anxious about the year ahead, it’s important to safeguard our fiscal wellbeing as much as our mental and physical health to avoid stress.

In the UK, 94% of employees worry about their money and poor financial health, making it the number one cause of stress. World-leading corporate wellness platform Gympass wants to help support and empower employees by making some practical suggestions on how we can budget and stay in control of our mental, physical and financial health at the same time.

1. Take a Reality Check – Be realistic about the financial cutbacks you’d like to make: it’s important to still enjoy life! A good rule is to list our all your ‘Needs’: outgoings and savings/debts per month, and then divide the rest into ’Wants’– this way you can make small adjustments to your spending that won’t impact your life too much.
2. Scroll for Savings – Instead of doom scrolling on Instagram, check out accounts for activities you would like to make savings on to see what deals are going. Many retailers are offering competitive deals and discounts that are going to ease the months ahead
3. Make use of free mental and physical fitness opportunities – Gympass offers a diverse range of apps and facilities that specialise in activities that will actively lower stress hormones, promote sleep, induce a positive mindset and increase physical fitness.  All this helps ensure you are mentally and physically strong for the turbulent year ahead
4. Spring Clean your Bank Account – go through your spending and see if you can down-size any payments you don’t benefit from – quick delivery options on retail sites, entertainment subscriptions, apps that encourage you to spend money by just existing on your home screen – takeaway apps are a big culprit here!
5. Finesse your fruit and veg intake! Many supermarkets are offering fruit and veg boxes for around £1 – not only will this have a positive impact on your general physical health, it will help your wallet’s health, too!
6. Financial Therapy – Gympass offers a dedicated range of support and guidance platforms specifically for financial help, providing a safe space to discuss private financial concerns irrespective of your age, situation or income.

Financial health is now rising to the top of the HR agenda and rightly so.  Not only can money worries lead to physical and mental ill-health – through stress, sleepless nights and anxiety – they can also seriously impact people’s productivity, ability to concentrate and make decisions. This itself can damage the bottom line of a business, not to mention the loss to a company if staff are off sick with anxiety or depression.

Recognising that employee wellbeing is inextricably linked to their financial health, Gympass offers financial health apps alongside its physical and mental health solutions.

 

“In the same way everyone is now encouraged to talk more openly about mental health, people now need to feel able to talk about their financial health,” says Luke Bullen, CEO UK and Ireland at Gympass. “These days, people aren’t afraid to seek guidance from a PT for their physical health or download a meditation app to calm their mind. We believe they should feel just as able to tap into financial health services to sort out their money worries.”

 

One major hurdle to overcome is feeling able to speak openly about your finances which, traditionally, has been somewhat of a taboo. Carlos Batista, CEO at Mobills, understands this very well. “Money affects almost every decision we make, but it’s an area of our lives which is very sensitive and private, which means it’s hard to know where to turn for support and guidance,” he says. “At Mobills we’ve worked incredibly hard to make our platform a space for everyone to track their expenses and access budgeting tools.” Since joining Gympass, Mobills has seen an uplift in interest – showing that financial health set in the context of overall wellbeing is welcomed by employees.

 

Employers are well placed to start the conversation around financial health with their workforce, Luke believes. “Gympass has seen use of our financial wellbeing apps rise over 70% already in 2021,” he says. “Financial health is every bit as important as physical health and mental health.  Put simply, sorting out your finances gives you one less thing to worry about which cannot fail to improve your sense of wellbeing.”