Employers encouraged to address financial stress among staff

Tuesday 12 March 2024

A local campaign group is encouraging employers to sign up for a programme that aims to help staff manage their finances and alleviate money-related concerns.

The Diversity Network said that this programme will particularly benefit women due to the existing 12% gender pay gap and the higher likelihood of women experiencing financial stress compared to men.

The campaign group, which helps local businesses to become more inclusive, has partnered with financial inclusion charity Community Savings to address the prevalence of financial stress in the workplace.

Pictured: Statistics about poverty in Jersey. (Jersey Community Relations Trust)

They have developed a programme of six steps that Jersey firms can adopt to help their employees manage their finances.

The steps include providing financial information and support, supporting employees with mental health challenges, reducing stigma around money worries, offering inclusive career development opportunities, creating long-term resourcing plans, and engaging with the wider community.

Pictured: Kate Wright, The Diversity Network; James Pountney, CEO Santander International; and Susan Clark, Chief Marketing Officer Santander International. 

The Chair of the Diversity Network, Kate Wright, said: "It is of course not just women who struggle financially, but UK data suggests that female employees are 33% more likely to experience financial stress than their male colleagues.

"The recent Statistics Jersey Earnings and Gender Pay gap data shows that financial equality and inclusion is still far from being a reality for many women on our island, particularly older women, working mothers and women from ethnic minority communities."

Pictured: The six-point plan to help employers. 

She added that women in their 30s experience a decline in earning potential known as the 'motherhood penalty' and that women in their 50s face a 'menopause penalty' which also leads to decreased salaries.

Appleby, Alex Forbes and the Channel Islands Co-operative Society are early supporters of the programme which is being sponsored by Santander International.

Deputy Louise Doublet has also recently lodged a proposition calling for Jersey’s larger companies to voluntarily publish their gender-pay-gap data.

If too few firms have agreed to the request by International Women’s Day 2025, the Government should start preparing legislation to make it a legal requirement, according to the proposal.