In 2025, Financial wellbeing has emerged as a critical pillar of overall wellbeing, with many organisations introducing/enhancing financial wellbeing programmes in some form. The question begets whether these programmes have actually created the desired impact. This is where a half-yearly financial wellbeing programme review can come in handy.
Given the time and resources being spent on wellbeing, a half-yearly review is necessary for organisations to evaluate:
Are employees demonstrating improved financial confidence or habits? Financial priorities are different across life stages. Have the sessions done been relevant to the associates’ financial needs? A new-to-work employee needs to be guided on how to start financial life and good financial habits, whereas a mid-level employee with a family would need to know more about financial planning. Generic topic-based sessions may not lead the associate to take action.
Are these programmes financially future-proofing employees? The working environment is changing very fast, and so are the financial realities employees face. Economic uncertainty, longer life spans and shorter working spans, tax changes, volatile markets
mean that the financial skills that worked yesterday may not be enough for tomorrow. Are the programmes addressing these changing realities? Participants between 35-40 years of age are concerned about job security and want to know how to build passive income and/or achieve financial freedom by 45. Are these employees being equipped with the right resources for the same?
Is the financial wellbeing programme that was designed a while back still relevant? Economic and policy changes, market volatility and emerging employee concerns have an influence on employees’ financial decisions. A programme designed six months ago might already need refreshing, as it may not address the changing environment. For example, with Indian equity markets being stagnant, sessions on asset allocation become more relevant than sessions on equity investing. Or with the change in the personal income tax laws, sessions on tax planning may no longer be relevant.
Are there issues with the program? Declining attendance, low engagement in specific sessions or under-representation from certain employee groups is a cause of concern. By analysing participation patterns and feedback, organisations can make course corrections midstream, like adding interactive elements or introducing new formats such as digital resources, or get deeper into a specific topic of interest. For example, one organisation found that employees were stressed due to high debt levels and not only did sessions on debt repayment but also got debt counsellors for 1:1 advice on how to pay off loans.
What can be done next? Organisations can use the learnings from the mid-year review to ensure that the financial wellbeing programme evolves with employee needs. Advanced sessions or providing hyper-personalisation through digital tools are some aspects which can be considered. Like an FMCG company introduced a financial planning tool for its mid-level employees to enable individual financial planning.
In an environment where financial stress is one of the leading causes of employee anxiety, such proactive mid-year reviews ensure that wellbeing initiatives stay purposeful, measurable and employee-centric. It helps organisations provide employees with relevant, practical and actionable financial wellbeing programmes.