3 ways to support your employees during times of uncertainty

3 Ways to Support Your Employees During Times of Uncertainty

Benefits professionals play a critical role in leading their teams through periods of uncertainty. Whether driven by economic shifts, political/regulatory changes, or a global crisis, uncertain times can heighten employee stress, reduce morale, and impact productivity. Now more than ever, workers look to their employers for stability, empathy, and meaningful support. For HR pros, this presents a unique opportunity to strengthen employee trust, promote well-being, and reinforce organizational stability.

Supporting employees during challenging periods generally requires more than just maintaining current benefits; it often calls for thoughtful adjustments, clear communication, and a focus on mental, emotional, and financial health. What follows are three actionable ways benefits pros can meet the moment and help employees feel valued and secure even when the future feels unclear.

Key Points

•   During uncertain times, employees often turn to their employers for reassurance and support.

•   Provide clear, helpful, and compassionate communication to reduce stress and confusion.

•   Use multiple communication channels to ensure all employees receive vital information.

•   Review and offer voluntary benefits to address employees’ diverse needs.

•   Consider financial wellness benefits that help workers manage short-term needs without sacrificing long-term security.

1. Make Sure Communications Are Honest and Accurate — and That They Reach Everyone

During uncertain times, it’s important to remain as open and transparent as possible with your team. This helps normalize what employees may be feeling and fosters a supportive environment where workers feel connected and reassured, even if the future is unpredictable.

Be Honest

Research shows employees engage more if they think company communications are honest. That means it’s OK to tell employees management is still looking into a change or isn’t sure exactly when a new policy will be implemented. In uncertain times, it’s better to keep in touch. Employees are looking to you for leadership, but they also want to be in on the process when changes are taking place. What’s more, giving employees honest updates can avoid the need for damage control later.

Be the Voice of Reason and Compassion

Your employees are likely overloaded with news and information, some of which may be contradictory and confusing. It’s important that your communications stay on top of breaking news and add a clear, helpful, and understanding voice to the discussion when events impact the company, the employees, and benefits.

Recommended: How Financial and Mental Health Can Collide With Work

Take a Multi-Channel Approach

While email is generally still the most common way to communicate with employees, you also want to use mobile and social media to help ensure that all employees see vital communications no matter where they are or what their work situation may be. This will be, literally, reaching out to your employees where they are.

Recommended: Benefits of Working From Home for Employees

2. Review Your Voluntary Benefits

In times of uncertainty, employees may look to their employer for a shoulder to lean on. Many HR professionals recognized this during the Covid-19 crisis and responded by offering a variety of flexible benefits that helped employees solve their short-term financial challenges while also assisting them in building a stronger future.

Research shows that more employers are offering voluntary benefits across a wide spectrum of needs. According to a 2024 survey by national insurance and financial services firm Alera Group, 50% of organizations now offer voluntary/supplemental benefits. The most popular add-ons include supplemental health insurance policies (e.g., critical illness, accident, and long-term care), followed by pet care, identity theft protections, and legal benefits.

Whatever combination of flexible or voluntary benefits you may be considering, you’ll want to be sure it fits your workers’ demographics and pressing needs. A variety of well-chosen benefits can help your employees face their specific challenges while also reducing stress and calming nerves during any period of uncertainty.

3. Help Employees Balance Short-Term and Long-Term Financial Well-Being

In uncertain times, a flexible financial well-being approach that includes the short-term benefits employees need to make it through is more important than ever. That’s why so many employers have introduced the types of benefits that employees feel are most relevant to their current financial concerns. Those may include emergency savings programs, homeownership benefits, and student loan repayment programs, to name just a few.

But this doesn’t mean that the importance of retirement savings and other long-term benefits should be diminished. Far from it. The security of knowing long-term retirement savings is in place can help add to employees’ overall financial well-being, especially during tumultuous times. Through effective communication and education programs, HR professionals can help employees balance short-term and long-term financial needs and goals.

It’s essential in times like these to try to help employees feel — and be — secure. These strategies may help you and your company continue to improve financial well-being during both calm and more tumultuous times.


Products available from SoFi on the Dashboard may vary depending on your employer preferences.

Advisory tools and services are offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 234 1st Street San Francisco, CA 94105.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans, Personal Loans, Private Student Loans, and Mortgage Loans are originated through SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC), (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org ). The 529 Savings and Selection Tool is provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. 2750 E. Cottonwood Parkway #300 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121. ©2025 Social Finance, LLC. All rights reserved. Information as of November 2025 and is subject to change.


Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.


Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

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Ways Your Employer Can Help You Buy a New Home

Ways Employers Can Help Employees Buy New Homes

It’s a win-win situation. When employers help employees become homeowners — even in small ways — workers may feel even more loyal to them. And employees who own their homes are far less likely to relocate and change jobs.

The reasons aren’t hard to figure out. Homeownership can be a major contributor to employees’ overall financial well-being, security, and stability, all of which can add to their productivity and satisfaction on the job. Employer-sponsored homeownership benefits also help build strong communities, and strong communities are almost always good for business.

The need for employer help may be greater now than ever. Stubbornly high home prices and mortgage rates, low housing inventory, and the high overall cost of living have meant that it has been harder for employees, particularly workers under age 35, to afford to buy their own homes. For many first-time homebuyers, the only option is to move to a lower-priced housing market. If those employees can’t work fully remotely, they may simply switch jobs.

The widespread lack of affordable housing in many areas can also make it difficult for employers to attract and retain the best hires. Studies suggest that the cost of replacing an individual employee costs six to nine months of the employee’s salary.

The ultimate result? A huge challenge for HR professionals.

Offering home-buying benefits can help. Numerous companies, understanding the link between homeownership and retention, have introduced homeownership benefits to help build a loyal, productive workforce that can further advance their business objectives.

Below are some of the ways employers can help their workforce become satisfied homeowners. After studying your workforce demographics and your budget, you may find inspiration among the various approaches below.

Key Points

•   Employer-provided homebuyer education and credit counseling can enhance financial literacy and facilitate homeownership.

•   Down payment assistance programs help reduce financial barriers, enhancing employees’ ability to achieve homeownership.

•   Consider partnering with real estate professionals to provide workers with specialized help in house hunting, financing, and legal matters.

•   Offering paid time off for closing and moving can help reduce employee stress and support a smoother transition.

•   Additional benefits like housewarming gifts and ongoing financial support can further enhance employee well-being and loyalty.

Homebuyer Education and Counseling

Knowledge is one of the most cost-effective benefits there is. Consider pairing up with area mortgage experts, financial counselors, and others to produce on-site or virtual information seminars on various homebuying topics. Banks, mortgage brokers, and real estate brokers in your area may be willing to offer free information sessions at your organization in hopes of generating clients. Or you may find one of the many homebuyer consultants available to help educate your workforce.

These programs can provide interested employees with the basics on the local market, different types of mortgages and their rates, mortgage insurance, down payment assistance, legal issues related to homeownership, foreclosure prevention, and much more. And an informed employee can avoid the financially costly mistakes that can so often be part of real estate purchases.

Recommended: How Homeownership Can Help Build Generational Wealth

Credit Counseling

A good credit score is key to qualifying for a mortgage with favorable rates. Employer-sponsored credit counseling can help employees learn how to check their credit scores and, if necessary, take steps to improve them. Consider partnering with a respected credit counseling firm to conduct in-house or virtual workshops or allowing employees time off to attend approved credit counseling seminars outside the workplace.

Recommended: Measuring the Financial Well-Being of Your Workforce

Down Payment Assistance Programs

With home prices as high as they are in many markets throughout the U.S., saving up a down payment of 10% to 20% or more can be a barrier to homeownership for many workers.

Employers can help in two ways. They can offer direct financial assistance. This usually entails paying a percentage of an employee’s down payment with a dollar amount maximum.

Employers can also help employees access government-sponsored grants and low-interest loans designed to help first-time homebuyers cover down payments and/or closing costs. Your state’s housing finance agency and your local housing authority likely have first-time homebuyer programs. Many offer qualifying buyers grants that don’t have to be paid back. Others have low or no-interest loans that often don’t have to be paid back until the house is sold or refinanced. As a rule, these programs aren’t broadly advertised, so employers who help workers find and apply for such assistance can play an important role in securing these funds.

Help With Finding and Paying Real Estate Professionals

Consider partnering with a local bank or mortgage broker to help employees find home financing. In return for the potential mortgage clients, you may be able to negotiate lower closing costs and fees for your employees that your firm also might or might not help subsidize.

A partnership between your firm and local realtors can provide workers with special help in the house-hunting process. And a relationship with local real estate lawyers or access to your own firm’s legal expertise can help lower legal fees associated with home buying for your employees.

Professional relocation services can help with home buying when an employee moves from one area of the country to another. However, with the rise of remote work, this is increasingly less common.

Important Extras

There are lots of small but important and cost-effective gestures employers can make when employees are finishing up with the home-buying experience. Extra days off (with pay) for closing and moving, for instance, can reduce stress and produce goodwill.

When the deal is done, it’s a nice gesture to acknowledge the new homeowner with a card or housewarming gift. Be sure to remind your employees that you or your expert partners can help answer any follow-up questions that come with homeownership.

You’ll also want to make sure that learning to manage mortgage payments and home ownership is part of your employees’ overall financial well-being picture. Your wellness programs may be able to help with budgeting for home improvements, maintenance, insurance, and other costs your employees may not have anticipated with home ownership.

The Takeaway

Employers can’t be the only resource employees turn to when it comes to buying a home. But a company that has a workforce full of employees of home-buying age may find that it can fill an important need and, in the process, help keep its workforce steady, loyal, productive, and satisfied.


Products available from SoFi on the Dashboard may vary depending on your employer preferences.

Advisory tools and services are offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 234 1st Street San Francisco, CA 94105.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans, Personal Loans, Private Student Loans, and Mortgage Loans are originated through SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC), (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org ). The 529 Savings and Selection Tool is provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. 2750 E. Cottonwood Parkway #300 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121. ©2025 Social Finance, LLC. All rights reserved. Information as of November 2025 and is subject to change.


Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

Disclaimer: Many factors affect your credit scores and the interest rates you may receive. SoFi is not a Credit Repair Organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. SoFi does not provide “credit repair” services or advice or assistance regarding “rebuilding” or “improving” your credit record, credit history, or credit rating. For details, see the FTC’s website .

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Steps for Building an Emergency Savings Program for Your Employees

6 Steps for Building an Emergency Savings Program for Your Employees

From record-high inflation to interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, the last several years have been plagued with financial unrest.

That may explain why only 28% of U.S. adults say they have enough emergency savings to cover at least six months’ worth of expenses, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Annual Emergency Savings Report.

For many Americans, this lack of reserves is a source of stress. The Bankrate survey found that a full 59% of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with the amount of emergency savings they currently have.

HR leaders have taken note. In fact, a growing number of employers now offer ways to help employees bolster their backup savings as part of their overall financial wellness benefits. If you’re interested in being one of them, read on. What follows are six moves that can help your organization build an emergency auto savings program that works best for your employees and your company.

Key Points

•   Evaluate employee needs through surveys to tailor the emergency savings program effectively.

•   Check competitors’ offerings to ensure the program is competitive and attractive.

•   Integrate the program with the company’s total rewards strategy for alignment.

•   Choose credible financial partners to provide a low-cost, easy-to-use platform.

•   Communicate the program clearly and personalize it to engage all employees.

1. Evaluate Employee Needs

The pandemic demonstrated that a huge percentage of employees in all salary ranges weren’t financially prepared for what was to become one of the most unprecedented periods of history.

This lack of preparedness added to an already stressful situation (working remotely, worries about health, child and elderly care needs, et cetera). Even with the pandemic well behind us, however, employees are still on edge. SoFi at Work’s Future of Workplace Financial Well-Being 2024 study found that 86% of U.S. workers are facing at least one source of major financial stress. What’s more, employees are spending over eight hours per week while at work dealing with issues related to their financial situation (that adds up to more than 10 weeks of work each year).

Adding an emergency savings plan can help employees alleviate a significant amount of financial stress and provide a solution to the lack of short-term savings. This might be especially appealing for younger members of your workforce who may have fewer resources to rely on than older employees.

To determine how effective an auto savings program will be for each segment of your staff, you might think about creating a preliminary survey of employees to see what they feel they need most from a short-term savings plan.

Consider the following questions:

•   Will you participate or do you feel there are already too many demands on your paycheck?

•   Are you more likely to join if the company offers a match or initial contribution?

•   Will you gravitate to emergency savings in lieu of long-term retirement savings?

•   Do more accessible after-tax savings in a 401(k) account that can be used for emergencies appeal to you?

•   Do you think automatic enrollment in an emergency saving plan could help you feel more financially secure?

2. Check Out the Competition

A good next step is to determine what competitors are offering their existing talent and new recruits in the short-term financial wellness arena. For example, is an emergency savings program common among companies competing for your talent? Do most competitors offer a match or contribution to get employees, especially new hires, started?

Use the results of this data and the survey of employees to devise the most effective program for your employees (see below) and, importantly, to help convince team members and management why an automated emergency savings program is right for your company’s comprehensive compensation and benefits package.

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3. Determine the Impact of an Emergency Savings Program on Your Total Rewards Strategy

In recent years, you’ve likely had to shift or alter some of the components of your total rewards strategy, including compensation, benefits, flexibility, performance recognition, and career development. In light of those changes, where does an emergency auto savings benefit fit into the new reality? How does it fit with your HR financial wellness goals and business strategy?

The answers are likely to be positive. It’s hard to imagine a total rewards strategy that doesn’t have a place for emergency auto savings, especially in light of recent times.

That said, it’s important that you structure and implement this benefit in a way that not only fills a need but enhances your overall strategy to retain, attract, and maximize talent. Be aware that when you add an important benefit such as emergency savings, you may shift the balance in your employees’ financial well-being focus from long-term to short-term goals.

As you implement the plan, you may need to realign your employee value proposition and total rewards strategy to encompass current and immediate needs while redoubling your efforts to educate and motivate employees on long-term financial wellness goals such as saving for retirement and healthcare costs.

4. Select the Solution and Roll Out Best for Your Goals

At SoFi at Work, we’ve found that selecting the right solution is critical to the utilization and effectiveness of every benefit in your total rewards strategy. Following the McKinsey framework can work well for all types of benefit rollouts, including emergency auto savings programs. These four principles can also help ensure benefit rollouts are integrated into your business strategy.

Choose Partners Wisely

As of 2024, there are two ways to set up ESAs for employees: One is to link these accounts to an existing 401(k), where the ESA shares the same platform as the 401(k) plan. Another option is to set up an ESA with an outside bank or financial institution.

For many employers, an out-of-plan solution is appealing because these accounts are often hosted through banking platforms that can offer easier access to the funds for employees, while reducing employer responsibility and involvement. If you go this route, you’ll want to look for a credible partner that can provide expert support and advice to a wide variety of employees with varying financial needs. Consider partnering with a bank, credit union, or other financial institution that offers a low-cost, easy-to-use platform, like SoFi At Work’s Emergency Vault.

Focus on What’s Feasible

Make the program feasible to launch, which will help you make meaningful progress for employees in the short term as you lay down the foundation for long-term initiatives. This is key with emergency savings rollouts because by helping to relieve some short-term financial stress, you allow employees to focus on long-term goals sooner rather than later.

Make It Sustainable

Sustainable programs are able to flex with your business over time and during uncertain business conditions. Can your emergency auto-save program survive current or future political and economic changes? To answer this, your company may need to weigh questions such as: Do the engagement benefits of a match outweigh the cost of sustaining the program? Is the plan flexible enough to undergo changes in the economy, your workforce, and your business strategy over time?

Get Personal

Enable personalization where you can. This way, employees are likely to feel emergency auto savings can help meet their unique needs. Offering a range of amounts that employees can automatically withdraw is the first step toward personalization. Providing calculators and other educational tools that help employees determine how much they need to save and how much they can afford to save is another personalization tactic.

Recommended: How Much Should Your Employees Have in Emergency Savings?

5. Use Communication Effectively

Top-notch communication techniques can help you drive participation and, importantly, change savings behavior in your workforce.

When asking for participation and engagement, lead with empathy. If there’s one thing the pandemic should have taught us, it’s that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to supporting employees, who have had many different experiences and have many different needs.

Coordinating communications about the importance of emergency savings with other financial well-being education programs can help get the word out in an immediate and holistic way.

Clarity is Key

Accompany your rollout with extremely clear communications telling employees exactly what they can expect, including:

•   How payroll deduction works

•   How much — or how little — employees can save in the account

•   Calculators, tools, and education efforts designed to help employees determine what they should/can save

•   Thorough explanation of any company match offered — how much, how often, and portability

•   Which bank, credit union, or other financial institution will run the account

•   How much, if any, interest will be earned

•   How withdrawals can be made

•   The fact that withdrawals can be made for any reason, no questions asked, with no penalties or tax consequences

•   A reminder that if employees leave the company, they may easily transfer their contributions to the account to their own savings account

Meet Employees Where They Are

Make sure effective and thorough communications are available across platforms so you can keep up with your far-flung workforce. Simply posting on the company website and hoping people sign up likely won’t work, especially for remote workers who may be feeling disconnected from corporate communications.

In all communications, make sure you take a multi-platform, consumer-grade, mobile-native technology approach.

6. Take Ongoing Pulse Checks

To determine engagement and any ongoing tweaks that need to be made, you’ll want to establish metrics to measure success at least quarterly. Then you’ll want to benchmark those results against your competitors and national averages to add an “outside-in” perspective.

Solicit employee input on the success of the program in three ways — employee surveys, focus groups with critical talent segments, and analysis of recent departing employees and job candidates who declined an offer.

Metrics can also help you track how well the benefit is supporting business goals. For instance, a customer-service-oriented company may find a higher focus among phone reps and fewer errors when staff is less burdened with financial worries.

The Takeaway

These six concepts are designed to help you build a successful, engaging, and effective employer-sponsored emergency savings plan. By reducing employee stress and increasing productivity and loyalty, you’ll help promote financial well-being in your workforce as well as enhance your company’s total rewards strategy and overall business objectives.

If you’re interested in setting up an emergency savings program, SoFi at Work can help. We provide an array of benefit platforms and education resources that can enhance financial wellness throughout your workforce.


Photo credit: iStock/alvarez

Products available from SoFi on the Dashboard may vary depending on your employer preferences.

Advisory tools and services are offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 234 1st Street San Francisco, CA 94105.

SoFi Student Loan Refinance Loans, Personal Loans, Private Student Loans, and Mortgage Loans are originated through SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC), (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org ). The 529 Savings and Selection Tool is provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. 2750 E. Cottonwood Parkway #300 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121. ©2025 Social Finance, LLC. All rights reserved. Information as of November 2025 and is subject to change.


Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.


Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

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What Is A Fellowship_780x440

What Is A Fellowship?

If you’re planning to pursue additional studies after you get your undergraduate degree, a fellowship could allow you to achieve your career goals while also helping you pay for school.

What is a fellowship? And how does it work? Read on to find out about fellowship programs and how they might help bring your total educational costs down.

Key Points

•   Fellowships provide funding for advanced education, often requiring work or research in return.

•   These programs may cover tuition and living expenses, helping to reduce student debt.

•   Fellowships are highly competitive and demand high academic performance.

•   Fellowships offer valuable hands-on experience and specialized skills, enhancing career prospects.

•   Fellowships are available in different fields of study and may last just a few months or as long as several years.

What Exactly Is A Fellowship?

A fellowship is a program that allows students — usually graduate students — to continue their education while earning money at the same time, most often in exchange for doing work in their field of study. It can help cover at least some of the cost of college.

A fellowship might be as short as a few months or as long as several years; it might be funded for a few thousand dollars or cover the entire cost of your graduate education, including living expenses.

The work involved could be field research, local community work, or teaching undergraduates in your discipline while you pursue higher studies. There’s a lot of variety out there depending on the program.

Fellowships are competitive prizes, and successfully securing one often requires a history of high academic merit and also writing a killer application essay (or several). The idea is that students who are awarded fellowships show potential in their field and have the capacity to become successful professionals later on.

While fellowship monies don’t need to be repaid after you graduate from the program (so long as you adhere to the parameters set out by the organization offering the fellowship), you may be doing some work or service in exchange for the funding.

Recommended: How to Pay for Grad School

Types Of Fellowship Programs

Although there are a large variety of individual fellowships programs, there are three common types you’re apt to run into.

1. Graduate Fellowships

Graduate fellowships help graduate students pursue their education by subsidizing some or all of the costs in exchange for work on-campus.

For instance, a graduate fellowship for a master’s degree in creative writing might come with a tuition waiver as well as a monthly stipend to cover living expenses, an option to purchase affordable healthcare through the school, monies to cover certain educational related travels, and so on. In exchange, the student is generally expected to teach a certain number of beginner-level courses in their field to undergraduate students.

2. Postdoctoral Fellowships

For students who’ve already earned their doctorate degrees, postdoctoral fellowships can open the door to even more education, which can help these scholars become specialized in a very specific aspect of their field.

What is the fellowship definition in this instance, and how does the fellowship work? A postdoctoral fellow might be expected to complete a certain amount of research or, again, teach courses while they continue their studies. In exchange, they might receive funding for their coursework and extracurricular activities like relevant travel.

3. Medical Fellowships

If you’re pursuing a career in the medical field, you may be wondering, what is a fellowship in medicine? For physicians and dentists who’ve already completed medical school and their residency, a medical fellowship can help them continue their training and gain more competency in a specific area of medicine.

Medical fellowships generally come after a doctor has already completed their residency. While fellowships provide an excellent learning experience and often better pay than a residency does, they still pay less than a third of the average full-fledged physician’s salary. To put it in perspective: Primary care medical fellowships pay approximately $75,943 a year on average, while a family medicine physician averages about $273,000 annually.

That means careful budgeting on a medical fellowship is likely to be required — and the same is true with any kind of academic or research fellowship.

What Is A Fellowship Like?

As mentioned above, fellowships don’t generally provide a lot of money for living expenses — your room and board may or may not be included, or you may be offered a flat stipend with which to cover your own cost of living.

Graduate students may be expected to do a lot of work for what feels like a minimal paycheck. But having one’s tuition waived is a big deal that can lead to substantial savings. This is especially true in the long term, when you consider the interest on graduate school loans.

Not only that, graduate students may already have undergraduate loans to worry about as well. And, since one of the basics of student loans is repaying them, that is likely to be top of mind. A fellowship may be a great step toward pursuing the career of your dreams without the additional burden of even more student debt.

One option for grad students to look into regarding their undergraduate loans is deferring them until after school. However, even with deferment, you might want to put some money toward student loans while still in school, to help reduce your payments later on.

Another possible alternative to consider is refinancing student loans, particularly if you could qualify for lower rates or better terms that might help reduce your monthly payments. (Be aware that you may pay more interest over the life of the loan if you lower your payment by extending your loan term.) Refinancing federal loans does mean giving up access to federal programs and protections. But if you don’t need those benefits, refinancing might be an option for you.

There are different options for refinancing student loans, including some specifically for grad students training for specialized careers, such as medical resident refinance. However, refinancing federal loans does mean giving up access to federal programs and protections. If you don’t need those benefits, refinancing might be an option for you.

Recommended: Private Student Loans Guide

Is Applying For A Fellowship Worth It?

Given the amount of work involved and the relatively small amount of money you may earn, is applying for a fellowship worth it in the first place? In the end, only you can make that decision for your own educational and financial future — but here are some pros and cons to consider.

Pros:

•   Fellowships offer you the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in your field, which can help you hone your skills and also learn more about whether or not you like the work in the first place.

•   Fellowships can help keep you from racking up more student debt, which is particularly attractive if you already have loans to repay.

•   Fellowships last only for a short amount of time, but the experience you get by taking one on may help you create a long-lasting and stable career.

Cons:

•   While completing a fellowship, you’re likely to work very hard for what feels like not very much of a paycheck.

•   The application process requires dedication and work. And fellowships are very competitive: Even with great credentials, you may not get the fellowship.

•   Fellowships may have very specific requirements, such as GPA or work hour minimums, and your fellowship may be revoked if you don’t complete the project or adhere to the guidelines.

The Takeaway

A fellowship can provide graduate students with an advanced education and highly specialized skills in their field. A fellowship offers funding in exchange for work to help pay for this schooling, which means that grad students may avoid accumulating more student loan debt. Fellowships are very competitive, however, so it’s wise for those considering one to weigh the pros and cons to make sure it’s the right choice for their situation.

Looking to lower your monthly student loan payment? Refinancing may be one way to do it — by extending your loan term, getting a lower interest rate than what you currently have, or both. (Please note that refinancing federal loans makes them ineligible for federal forgiveness and protections. Also, lengthening your loan term may mean paying more in interest over the life of the loan.) SoFi student loan refinancing offers flexible terms that fit your budget.


With SoFi, refinancing is fast, easy, and all online. We offer competitive fixed and variable rates.

FAQ

What does it mean when you get a fellowship?

A fellowship is a funded opportunity for the advanced study of a subject. Fellowships are typically for graduate students who want to pursue advanced academics and learn highly specialized skills in their field, while earning money, or getting a stipend, to help pay for their studies.

Is a fellowship a paid job?

It depends on the type of fellowship. In general, a fellowship allows graduate students to pursue an advanced education while earning money — or receiving a cost of living stipend — to pay for their schooling, typically in exchange for doing work related to their field of study. The work might consist of doing research or teaching, for instance.

How hard is it to get a fellowship?

Fellowships are merit-based and extremely competitive. In order to secure a fellowship, an individual typically needs to have a history of high academic achievement. Students who are awarded fellowships generally must show great potential in their field with the capacity to become successful professionals in the future.


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Learn more at SoFi.com/eligibility. SoFi Refinance Student Loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org).

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Terms and conditions apply. SOFI RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE PRODUCTS AND BENEFITS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. SoFi Private Student loans are subject to program terms and restrictions, such as completion of a loan application and self-certification form, verification of application information, the student's at least half-time enrollment in a degree program at a SoFi-participating school, and, if applicable, a co-signer. In addition, borrowers must be U.S. citizens or other eligible status, be residing in the U.S., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, or American Samoa, and must meet SoFi’s underwriting requirements, including verification of sufficient income to support your ability to repay. Minimum loan amount is $1,000. See SoFi.com/eligibility for more information. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. SoFi reserves the right to modify eligibility criteria at any time. This information is subject to change. This information is current as of 4/22/2025 and is subject to change. SoFi Private Student loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org).

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Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

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Non affiliation: SoFi isn’t affiliated with any of the companies highlighted in this article.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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Are Your Benefits Helping Women — Especially Moms — Achieve Financial Wellness?

Despite progress, women, especially mothers, are still fighting hard to achieve equality in the workforce. According to a 2024 Bankrate analysis of Census Bureau data, mothers earn (on average) 31% less than fathers. Based on Bankrate’s calculations, this wage loss can add up to roughly half a million dollars over a woman’s 30-year career.

The financial and career impacts of motherhood are even more pronounced for women who choose not to come back to work after having a baby — or return only to later drop out. In Motherly’s 2024 State of Motherhood report (which surveyed nearly 6,000 mothers), a full 66% of moms said they were considering leaving the workforce due to the stress and cost of childcare.

Though women’s employment has recovered from the great “she-cession” of the pandemic, the gender gap in labor force participation remains significant, with 73.7 percent of mothers in the labor force compared to 94.9 percent of fathers, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

One way employers can help women gain ground — and help solve hiring and retention issues — is to tailor benefits to better fit their needs, priorities, and concerns. Companies that offer benefits packages that help address the gender gaps in financial wellness not only help women stay and advance in the workplace, but also promote a more equitable and productive workforce.

Key Points

•   Extended parental leave supports women’s financial wellness and can help mothers maintain their career trajectory.

•   Creating advancement opportunities for women through education, mentorships, and coaching can help close the gender gap.

•   Addressing the childcare crisis is crucial for working mothers, reducing both financial and emotional stress.

•   Employee-sponsored returnship programs offer valuable re-entry options for women.

•   Financial wellness benefits are essential for women’s overall well-being, helping them manage debt and reduce financial stress.

What Employers Can Do

HR pros have been working on evening gender disparity for decades, and much progress has been made. But the pandemic shed new light on the stubborn underlying inequities that continue to burden employers and female employees alike.

Employers may find that making adjustments and additions to their benefits packages can help promote more gender equity at work while also allowing them to attract and retain top female talent. Here are some strategies you may want to consider.

Recommended: Measuring the Financial Well-Being of Your Workforce

Rethink Maternity Leave

The more paid parental leave your firm can offer, generally the better. Some companies are expanding leave for birthing parents beyond 12 weeks, offering as much as 26 weeks. Others are providing additional weeks of paid leave to parents of newborns who spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit.

A generous paid parental leave program not only helps attract female workers but also increases the likelihood that your existing women employees will return to their jobs after having or adopting a child, as opposed to dropping out of the workforce —- and leaving you with a new opening to fill.

Another question to consider is whether your parental leave policies apply to all types of families and parents, such as non-birth mothers, foster parents, and parents who use surrogates. Parental benefits provide an opportunity for building your inclusive benefits strategy.

Create Real Opportunities for Advancement

For every 100 entry-level men promoted to management, only 81 women are promoted, according to McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workforce 2024 report. With limited room for advancement and often undervalued work, many women are leaving their employers for better opportunities elsewhere.

One way to counter this trend is to offer female employees a path to advancement through education and up-skilling/re-skilling opportunities. You might do this by offering tuition assistance programs and/or access to free (or discounted) training and certification programs. This can help female employees get ahead in their careers, earn more and, in turn, achieve greater financial stability. It can also propel women into the roles of the future where they are currently underrepresented, like data science, software development, and engineering.

Other initiatives that can improve female career mobility include: formal mentorships, sponsorships, women’s employee resource groups (ERGs), leadership circles, and career coaching workshops. If your company offers these programs, you’ll want to make sure women employees know about and have easy access to them.

Address the Childcare Crisis

The pandemic brought childcare issues to the forefront as a significant workplace challenge. However, the high costs and limited availability of childcare existed before the pandemic and continue to create an impediment for women to fully participate in the workforce.

Employers can help address childcare challenges in several ways. On-site childcare is the most accommodating benefit. But on-site care is a big investment of infrastructure and resources that realistically only a small group of major employers can provide.

One alternative is to offer some type of emergency or backup child care support. Some companies do this by partnering with local daycare facilities and providing access to free or discounted childcare when a regular provider falls through. Other firms are offering employees stipends for online services, such as Care.com and SeekingSitters.com, that provide access to sitters at short notice.

Being open to and evaluating childcare support can be particularly important if you are mandating, or simply encouraging, employees to work onsite.

Consider Returnships

Many employers are dealing with labor shortages. At the same time, there is a large pool of untapped talent among women who have fully or partially left the workforce. Many of those women want to return to work but find the gaps in their resumes and lack of current skills are holding them back.

To address both problems at once, some companies are offering “returnships.” Pioneered by finance leaders Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, these are internship programs that give returning caregivers the opportunity to brush up their skills or learn new ones. Returnships typically run for a few months, offering training, experience, and networking opportunities to workers — often mothers — who’ve been out of the workforce for an extended period of time.

Returnship programs not only give women who dropped out of the workforce a viable onramp, they also give employers a way to vet talent before making an official hire.

Address Student Debt

Student loan debt impacts nearly 43 million Americans and a disproportionate number are female. According to EducationData.org, women hold 64% of all outstanding student debt and, despite making higher payments than men, take an average of two years longer to pay off their student loans. Women also owe more in graduate student loan debt than men, except in professional doctorate degrees.

Student debt can have a negative impact on any employee’s financial (and overall) well-being. And right now, borrowers are feeling particularly uneasy, thanks to unknowns surrounding potential changes to federal student loan repayment plans and forgiveness programs. What is certain, though, is that student loan repayment benefits continue to grow in popularity and effectiveness. And, they may be particularly beneficial to female employees.

HR leaders will also want to keep in mind that employers can offer up to $5,250 in tax-exempt student loan repayment benefits through 2025, thanks to the CARES Act of 2020. What’s more, the recent passage of the SECURE Act 2.0 allows companies to provide employees with a match on their retirement plans for making student loan payments starting in 2024. This can be a stand-alone offering, or part of a broader employee benefits program.

Offer Flexible, Women-Friendly Financial Wellness Benefits

In Bank of America’s 2024 Workplace Benefits Report, more than half (53%) of men reported good financial wellness, compared to just 36% of women. The study also found that women aren’t feeling as secure as men about the future: 58% of women said they were confident they will be able to build sufficient retirement savings, compared to 70% of men.

High levels of student debt, trouble making ends meet, and worries about saving enough (particularly with gaps in employment) all add a disproportionate amount of stress on women. Financial stress can impact every aspect of women’s lives, including productivity and happiness at work.

HR pros can make a huge impact on women employees by offering personalized, adaptive wellness benefits, such as debt management, emergency savings, tuition savings, retirement planning programs, and financial education. These benefits can help female employees plan and save for the future, feel less stressed about their finances, increase their focus and productivity on the job, and, importantly, change their financial lives for the better.

Recommended: The Future of Financial Well-Being in the Workplace

The Takeaway

Women are a vital part of any employer’s workforce. Benefits packages designed to address women’s specific needs can help employers attract and retain talented female employees. They can also help guarantee women, especially moms, have access to an equal playing field and a secure financial future.

SoFi at Work offers employers the benefits platform, education resources, and financial counseling that can help you assemble packages that help you increase employee productivity, loyalty, and overall well-being.


Photo credit: iStock/jacoblund

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Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.


Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

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