75% of People say Employers Should Play a Role in the Financial Wellbeing of Employees

75% of people say employers should play a role in the financial wellbeing of employees according to the latest findings from the Taxback.com Taxpayer Sentiment Survey.

The Irish tax refund specialists have reported that they have secured tax refunds for thousands of workers throughout the country since launching its Employee Financial Wellbeing programme in April 2021.

The aim of Taxback’s Employee Financial Wellbeing initiative is to equip employees with the knowledge and know-how to enable them to put their personal tax affairs in order and to ensure they are in receipt of any and all refunds and reliefs available to them.

Barry Cahill, Director of Financial Wellbeing Services at Taxback.com, gave the following update, “It’s not surprising that most people think employers should take an active role in this area.

“An employers too are realising this, as more and more are placing greater focus and attention on workplace wellbeing in recent years, and financial wellbeing is interwoven into this.

On average, about three quarters of the workforce in each of the organisations we have worked with have availed of the service, which demonstrates a real appetite for this type of financial guidance and has ultimately resulted in thousands of workers throughout the country receiving tax refunds that they may not otherwise have claimed.

“The most notable commonality across all of the tax reviews we undertook was people’s lack of awareness of tax reliefs and the refunds available to them.

“These employees, and thousands of others in the same position around the country, can gain from unclaimed medical expenses, prescriptions, e-worker relief, or specific flat rate expenses such as shop assistant allowance – but so many either do not know of these refunds or believe that the process of claiming them is simply too convoluted and time consuming. We aim to dispel these myths, and to educate and inform.”

Taxback.com reports that the average refund amount received for employees participating in the programme to date is €1,250 and the highest individual refund was €7,400.

Taxback.com Survey Respondents were asked: Do you believe employers have a role to play in promoting Financial Wellbeing in the workplace?

– Yes, while it’s not an employer’s responsibility, it would be a nice added extra if they were to help employees with their finances (48%)

– Yes, it’s an employer’s responsibility to help employees in this aspect of their life (27%)

– No, it’s not an employer’s responsibility to get involved in this – we’re all adults and should be able to look after this ourselves (25%)

Mr. Cahill continued, “Over the last year, we’ve noticed a trend amongst employers in Ireland whereby a significant number are “auditing” their Employee Benefits portfolio, to see which ones really resonate with their workforce.

“The benefits package on offer to employees in 2019 (pre-Covid) may not be as relevant in 2022, given the significant changes in people’s working environments, meaning many organisations are on the lookout for new benefits that employees will appreciate and find real, tangible value in.

In particular, organisations are more interested than ever in Employee Benefits which can assist in employee retention, employee recruitment, and can also boost morale within an organisation.”

Taxback.com reports that employee wellbeing overall has come into sharper focus for employers in recent years – based on three main pillars: Mental Health wellbeing, Physical wellbeing, and Financial wellbeing.

Mr. Cahill concluded, “Last year a survey we undertook found that 4 in 10 people worry about money on a weekly basis, while a further 1 in 10 said it’s a monthly concern for them.

“Knowledge is power and if we can give these employees the information and the guidance they need, we can help them to better understand their finances and we might just be able to alleviate some of the stresses and strains associated with budgeting and financial management in the home.”