Who knows what the future holds (probably lots of Zoom calls and ‘virtual coffees’)? In a matter of weeks peoples’ lives have been turned upside down. We are all grieving for how we felt in 2019 for example, no matter how rubbish or great that year was, 2020 totally sucks in comparison, let’s face it! Some have lost a little, most have lost a lot and some have lost everything. This is not only a health crisis – it is also a financial crisis and actions now will impact our recovery.
The typical stages of grief apply in all instances.
More importantly, what stage are your employees at right now, and how can you help ease their anxieties as they move through? First there is denial, then anger, then bargaining then depression and then… acceptance. What stage are you at? If you are facing losing your income, taking a pay cut, needing to rely on universal credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance or perhaps just (just?!!) watching your pension slide away I would suggest you are a long way away from acceptance!
The week before lockdown, Jason Hamilton, our Account Director was on-site with a client, discussing what worries were ‘top of mind’ in their employee population. Using data gathered in our digital financial advice app, MyEva, it became clear that even then, the key issues of debt, budgeting and credit were on everyone’s mind. There's a lot of conflicting information out there and sometimes it can be difficult to know who to turn to and where to get immediate help. This client represents what we believe is the norm for most citizens of the world: “How will I cope and what help can I get?”
At Wealth Wizards, we believe employers are in a prime position to help their employees whether working from home, as a key worker, coping with being furloughed, dealing with pay cuts or even losing their jobs. There are many support measures in place from how to talk to creditors of missing payments, dealing with debt, paying bills and – yes! – financial survival. But guess what? There is a lot of jargon, a lot of admin and where to start? Oh, and let’s do all this whilst worrying about our parents, our families, the vulnerable and ourselves.
Jason and our product and engineering teams decided MyEva needed to step up. She has moved straight to ‘acceptance’ – this is happening, this is as scary as hell but this can be overcome with help and support. She accepts she has a job to do and a role to play! Wealth Wizards created MyEva to make financial wellbeing affordable and accessible to everyone. This is our company purpose. Never was there a more important time to stay true to our purpose. Take out the jargon, reach millions at the same time on a 1-2-1 basis and do it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In a matter of just three weeks, MyEva has grown her conversational content by 33% all dedicated to helping people deal with the financial worries thrown up by COVID-19. Chat content, blogs, help, guidance and advice on what matters most: financial survival. Click here to see the specific areas we have focused on, from late payment worries to managing day to day spending. Clients of MyEva such as the NHS, Ricoh and Youth Sports Trust have found this helpful already and we need to spread the word!:
“We’re really pleased Youth Sport Trust has implemented MyEva to our employees; not only giving them access to Covid-19 specific content, at such an uncertain time, but also helping them with digital guidance on many other financial topics” - Helen Shuttleworth
Assistant Director – HR, Youth Sport Trust
We are still a growing company and we need to scale up – we need what MyEva can offer the world to reach as many people as possible and we are calling out to all employers who want to help their employees cope in this financial health crisis to get in touch. See for yourself. As soon as your employee logs into MyEva she will help answer what is worrying them the most and if she cannot help users can speak to one of our qualified, independent advisers at a time that suits them. Key enquiries so far range from: 'I'm worried about redundancy', 'My partner is self-employed' and 'I'm facing a pay cut'. We want to talk to you about how MyEva can help.
We will offer the MyEva ‘COVID-19 financial survival module’ to any employer who needs her to help their people. MyEva cannot solve everything, but she can help users get all the information they need and guide and advise them through a difficult, crazy time. The beauty of a digital adviser is she can help whilst you #stayathome. She is GDPR compliant and FCA-regulated. If you cannot provide an email address for your staff (many staff who are furloughed for example cannot access work email), then promote MyEva via your internal comms. Raise awareness. Move forward. If you worry it will take weeks to introduce her, think again. IT WILL TAKE TEN MINUTES! …the amount of time on average people spend a day talking on a Zoom call before they realise they are even on mute. Or is that just us?!
We want your teams to move towards acceptance to move forward. But acceptance of a better reality where financial wellbeing becomes the norm again and the right steps forward can be taken now.
For further information, speak to James Malia, james.malia@wealthwizards.com.
What the video about the new module here:
We want to help and we will. Staying true to our purpose is what keeps us focused. Join us.
Learn more about MyEva
MyEva is a digital financial wellbeing expert designed to support employees with their financial wellbeing by helping to improve their financial situation with independent personalised guidance and advice.
To learn more about how Employers can support the financial wellbeing of their workforce, explore www.myeva.com, email linda.anderson@wealthwizards.com or complete the form below.
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