Personal Group to offer salary loans to client employees

Personal Group announced on Thursday that it was partnering with Neyber and SalaryFinance, which would allow Personal Group's clients to offer their employees access to financial wellbeing solutions including loans direct from salary, on-site financial education, and saving products.

The AIM-traded firm said trough the initiative, employees would have access to affordable borrowing with low APRs and manageable repayments that were taken directly from payroll.

Wellbeing in the workplace was often synonymous with physical and mental health, the board claimed, but added that financial wellbeing was becoming “more and more prevalent”.

According to the 2017 DNA of financial wellbeing report from Neyber, 58% of employees admitted to being mentally and physically affected by financial worries, Personal Group pointed out, with 33% of employees citing financial worries as the biggest concern, ahead of health, relationships and work life balance.

Those financial problems were not necessarily because of poor financial management, but increasingly external factors such as the rising costs of education and housing, depressed wages, rising childcare costs, and energy and food prices, were taking a toll on employees across the UK, the board said.

“Offering additional support such as fairer finance schemes is a practical way employers can improve the overall wellbeing of their staff,” said chief executive Mark Scanlon.

“This proposition is about offering practical financial support as part of an overall benefits package.

“We are enabling employers to address all aspects of their employees' wellbeing, physical, emotional and financial through a truly holistic wellbeing programme.”