OpenMoney has launched a new employee benefits platform offering free financial advice to employees of small and medium sized businesses in need of support through the Covid19 pandemic.
WorkLife will be free to access for the remainder of 2020, saving an SME with 50 employees £600 over the next six months.
OpenMoney said the need for financial advice has “never been greater”, with the latest figures revealing over nine million employees are currently furloughed, while 1.9 million mortgage borrowers have taken payment holidays and a further 1.5 million people have been given payment holidays on their loans and credit cards.
Anthony Morrow, founder and chief executive, OpenMoney, believes workers have been poorly served by traditional financial services companies.
Morrow says: “Small companies and their employees make up the biggest chunk of UK businesses and the country’s workforce. They are the nation’s engine room and its lifeblood. Without their hard work and earnings, the economy has ground to a halt.
These workers deserve to be looked after, especially when so many have been furloughed and are facing money worries. It can be difficult to know where to turn to for advice on financial matters, so with the WorkLife platform we are finally giving smaller companies the tools they need to offer their employees this vital support.”
Employers can link the platform to payroll information and workplace pensions, so employees are able to see all their benefits and salary in one place. It can also be used to communicate with workers to keep them up-to-date with their total benefits package and new products.
Robert Marshall, managing director, WorkLife, comments: “Most employee benefits providers usually focus on big companies where they can turn a buck because of the size and sheer numbers of staff. They’ve ignored the SME sector because a company with 50 employees isn’t profitable enough for them.
“With WorkLife we are blowing that assumption out of the water and helping to empower employers at a time when they and their staff need it most. We know that increasingly people look to the companies they work for as a trusted source of help and information. By offering WorkLife free to employers for the rest of the year, we hope that this can help them give their people the kind of helping hand they need right now.”
In addition to financial support, WorkLife will also offer mental wellbeing guidance from Thrive.
