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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.

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 .

SOAW-Q225-003

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.

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.

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.

SOAW-Q225-005

Providing an emergency savings account (ESA) is fast becoming a way to help employees build a foundation for financial well-being. According to a 2025 Bankrate survey, only 41% percent of Americans would be able to cover a major unexpected expense (such as $1,000 for an ER visit or car repair) using savings — the majority would have to resort to other options, like taking on debt or reducing expenses. Providing an emergency savings program that’s easy and accessible helps tell your workforce that you know what they’re going through and you’re there to help.

That said, HR professionals who are already managing an ESA, in the process of introducing one, or considering a rollout all face a basic yet important question: How much should their employees stash away in these accounts?

Clearly, employees themselves have the final say. But an efficient plan structure with appropriate minimums, maximums, and matches; solid guidance; and accessible educational efforts can go a long way toward spurring engagement and helping workers make the most of this important benefit. Let’s take a closer look.

Finding the ESA Sweet Spot

When offering guidance on how much to save for emergencies, employers may want to aim for the “sweet spot.” This is somewhere between putting all of your extra cash into an ESA and ignoring long-term goals, and the opposite — focusing solely on long-term savings and ignoring short-term goals, like emergency savings.

Finding the right balance can be tricky. Take ESAs and 401(k) savings, which often have a direct effect on each other and present HR professionals with a bit of a conundrum.

On the one hand, ESA savings can improve overall financial health and help employees avoid withdrawing funds from their 401(k) savings early, preventing any potential tax penalties and lost income in those accounts.

But by the same token, too much emphasis on short-term savings may dampen employees’ willingness to save in traditional retirement accounts. This is especially true in today’s economic climate, when workers are navigating a high cost of living, elevated interest rates, uneven wage growth, and concerns about an economic slowdown.

Employers can help employees balance this short-term/long-term financial tension by helping them understand their individual savings needs, goals, and risks of encountering unexpected expenses.

Rethinking Conventional Wisdom about Emergency Savings

One way to do that may be to look beyond the traditional advice concerning emergency savings. Financial institutions, such as Vanguard and Fidelity, often recommend that clients save three to six months’ worth of expenses (or more) in a cash or cash equivalent account in case of a job loss, medical issues, or other income disruptions.

But some experts believe that lower-, moderate-, and even some high-income workers may be discouraged by that goal and give up on emergency saving altogether. Setting more achievable dollar figures, such as $500 or $1,000, may be more realistic and more motivating than the traditional advice.

To get employees started, you might encourage them to set a modest saving target, such as the cost of a significant car repair, rather than jump right into the three-to-six- months’-worth-of-expenses formula. Once they reach that initial goal, they may be motivated to keep going and build up a more substantial financial safety net.

Keep in mind, the “goal” for emergency savings is fluid. The idea is for your employees to build a cushion, use it as needed, and then replace those funds and build the account some more. That’s why a hard-and-fast number doesn’t always work. Focusing on regular contributions that keep the fund functional can be more important.

Recommended: Top 10 Reasons Financial Wellness Is Important in the Workplace

Calculating Minimums, Maximums, and Matches

Benefit design can go a long way toward motivating employees to engage in emergency savings. Flexibility is key.

Minimums and Maximums. When you’re setting up a savings benefit of this kind, there are usually minimums and maximums involved. In many cases, employers work with an outside bank/vendor that may have its own restrictions. You may also want to impose some structure to run the program efficiently and engage your employees.

Keep in mind, minimums need to be low enough to engage, not overwhelm, workers. Amounts as low as $25 to $50 a week are not uncommon. Once the momentum starts and employees see balances increasing, they may want to increase the amount they’re depositing. Make sure this process is easy for them to do. And remember that being too strict about contributions can potentially backfire. If an employee must miss a month, consider not imposing any penalties. Otherwise, you may discourage an employee who happens to be temporarily strapped that month but who does want to save.

Maximums can be an important tool in ensuring that employees aren’t overly focusing on short-term savings or disregarding their 401(k) and other long-term savings goals. You’ll want to use the tools and information outlined above to set a thoughtful maximum that will help employees successfully cover unexpected expenses and, at the same time, increase their confidence for long-term goals.

When determining maximum amounts, you’ll also want to consider whether excess contributions can spill over into other types of saving programs, such as after-tax retirement contributions. This requires more administration but can be a useful tool to help employees balance short- and long-term savings goals.

Automatic deductions. HR professionals have seen how automatic payroll deductions for 401(k) plans can significantly boost savings. The same may hold true for automatic payroll deduction ESAs, in which a small portion of an employee’s paycheck (after taxes) is automatically deposited into an employer-sponsored account.

Using the information outlined above to determine the percentage deducted for each level of your workforce can help make these automatic payments accessible and sustainable.

Also keep in mind that, thanks to the passage of the SECURE Act 2.0, employers can (as of 2024) automatically enroll qualified employees into emergency savings accounts within the structure of their retirement savings plans. Employees can make after-tax contributions until the account maxes out at $2,500 (or a lower limit set by the employer). Employers can decide to automatically enroll employees into these accounts at a rate of up to 3% of eligible wages.

Employer Match. Kicking in an initial amount to help employees get their emergency fund started or offering a match tied to employee contributions can provide a strong incentive for employees to start saving.

One company might match employee contributions up to $40 a month. Other employers may provide a contribution once the employee has hit a certain savings threshold like, say, $250. For a relatively low cost, your company can provide a match that can help employees hit their emergency savings targets faster, improve their engagement, and enhance their overall financial wellness.

The Takeaway

SoFi at Work can help you and your team implement a successful emergency savings program, including guidance on how much your employees should save for unexpected expenses.

Photo credit: iStock/katleho Seisa

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.

SOAW-Q225-007

Few events that your employees experience are as life-changing as becoming parents. That’s why new parents often begin to look at their employee benefits in a new light. After all, they may now be relying on their employers for new kinds of important support as well as continued financial well-being.

As an HR professional, you may also want to take a fresh look at your company’s total rewards strategy to make sure your parent-oriented benefits aren’t siloed as a few stand-alone benefits, such as parental leave and college savings plans, but are well-integrated into your firm’s overall financial well-being program.

Why Parental Benefits Are Now More Key Than Ever

The importance of parental benefits may be even more pronounced than it used to be as a growing number of companies have established return-to-office mandates.

Even with hybrid schedules, many new parents find it difficult to stay in the workforce. Motherly’s 2024 State of Motherhood report, which surveyed nearly 6,000 mothers, found that 66% of moms considered leaving the workforce in 2024 due to the stress and cost of childcare.

The more flexibility and support employers provide, the more willing new parents may be to return to work — and stay on the job once they do. What’s more, employers who understand what employees at any stage of parenting need to maintain and elevate their financial well-being stand to gain enormous loyalty from their staff.

Today’s diverse workforces require customized programs that can help them achieve their individual and family financial wellness goals. This applies to parents of all ages of children as well as to parents of newborns.

Here’s how you can make sure your total rewards strategy is doing the best job possible to attract, retain, and support your parent employees.

Evaluate Your Existing Parental Benefits

Are your parent-oriented benefits offering the best help you can give to the widest variety of your parent employees?

Some of the most common benefits include parental leaves, paid time off, and college savings programs. Let’s look closely at each to help determine if your offerings are up to date and effective.

Paid Parental Leave

The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible employees at large employers to take up to 12 weeks off after the birth or adoption of a child. But the Act does not require that an employee be paid for this time. And state laws on family medical leave can vary significantly.

Under the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) of 2020, many federal employers offer 12 weeks of paid parental leave as a substitution for FMLA to civilian government employees who have been on the job for at least a year and then become parents through birth, adoption, or foster care.

Although this Act applies only to federal government employees, it sets a strong example for private and nonprofit organizations. Ask yourself whether your firm is keeping up with the most recent paid-leave policies? Are your leave policies inclusive — available to fathers and non-birth mothers, adoptive parents, foster parents, and parents who use surrogates?

Recommended: Financial Planning Tips for LGBTQ+ Couples

Flexible Return to Work Schedules

Just in case it wasn’t already obvious, the pandemic demonstrated how important flexible work hours are for parents. A flexible return-to-work policy for new parents can help ensure that new moms and dads continue to stay in the workforce. Some employers, such as PwC, for example, are finding that a gradual return can help with the transition. The firm allows parent employees to work a 60% reduced schedule at full pay for up to four weeks as they return to work.

Some large companies, such as Walmart, are also easing the transition by offering affordable, on-site childcare for working parents. Still others have had success providing more customizable remote schedules for re-entering parents and more flexible PTO benefits that accommodate children’s illnesses and childcare gaps.

Whatever ways you decide to support the transition from parental leave to a return to work, be sure they’re clearly communicated to your workforce. Ideally, you want to have a sit-down with a new parent employee before the baby arrives to review all relevant benefits, including what’s expected during a return to work.

Inclusive Parental Benefits

Be sure your leaves, time-off, and return-to-work policies apply to all types of families. Parental benefits are a wonderful opportunity for building your inclusive benefits strategy. Same-sex couples with surrogates, adoptive parents, and foster parents need the same parental leave and flexible return-to-work policies as traditional birth mothers. And any type of new parent may need spousal or partner time off for bonding and caretaking. If your health plan covers fertility treatments, you may want to ensure that same-sex couples and other non-traditional families are covered by those as well.

Early College Savings Opportunities

The idea of saving for college starting as soon as a child is born is nothing new. But is your company doing everything it can to make that possible? Automatic payroll contribution to a 529 savings plan can be one of the most effective ways for all parents to save for their children’s education.

In addition, assistance with determining what 529 savings plan is best for your employees may also help. Employer-provided guidance can help parents navigate state tax laws, fees, maximums, minimums, and investment options among the different 529 Savings Plans available.

Customize Financial Well-Being Benefits to Help Parents

At this juncture, new parents likely need access to any financial planning and counseling services your financial wellness benefits offer to help navigate the money challenges parenting brings. In addition, overall wellness benefits can help reduce stress and increase productivity. Some examples:

•   Access to legal services to help write wills, designate guardians, and change beneficiaries.

•   Opportunities to sign up for any supplemental life insurance or disability income insurance your organization offers and guidance on why protection can be more of a priority for parents.

•   House hunting and mortgage services. An expansion of the family often requires a move to a larger space, making home-buying benefits more relevant than ever.

•   Help building an emergency fund while keeping track of other financial priorities.

•   Financial planning services can help parents reset priorities and budgeting in light of a new addition to the family. Parents may also benefit from a retirement planning deep dive. Although planning for long-term goals may seem impossible in the midst of such a huge life event, it’s important for parent employees to remember that planning well for their own futures helps ensure the financial future of their children as well. No parents want to have to rely on their children financially in old age. Making sure that doesn’t happen begins now, and employers can help.

•   Student loan pay-down programs can help parents handle their obligations from the past while still being able to plan for the future.

•   Renew new parents’ engagement in overall wellness benefits such as weight loss, exercise, and stress reduction programs. If you don’t already, consider offering such programs to parents with children of all ages, since all parents (not just new parents) have stress to deal with.

The Takeaway

Becoming a parent is a life-changing occurrence for anyone. But employers can use this happy event to solidify financial well-being, loyalty, and productivity among their workers who are parents.

Photo credit: iStock/Tempura

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.

SOAW-Q225-008

Mental health and financial health typically go hand in hand. For years, studies have shown a link between stress over finances and an increase in mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. And on the flip side of the coin, people with mental illnesses are more likely to have financial problems.

Recent research also supports this important connection. In SoFi at Work’s The Future of Workplace Financial Well-Being 2024 survey (which included 750 HR leaders and 750 full-time employees), 86% of workers said they feel increasingly stressed about their finances, up more than 10% from our 2022 report. They also reported that this stress has negatively impacted their sleep (48%), mental health (47%), physical health (36%), and motivation to pursue professional goals (37%).

Financial stress and mental health problems can lead to increased absenteeism and low productivity among your workers. As a result, it may make sense to help employees combat financial issues and mental health problems at the same time. Indeed, over the last few years, many employers have been exploring ways that financial well-being benefits and mental health benefits could work together to build the support and solutions employees need to weather financial and mental stress. Here are some lessons from those efforts that might benefit your organization.

Recognize How Financial Well-Being Programs Can Support Mental Health in the Workplace

Financial planning, budgeting tools, debt counseling, and financial education services have become increasingly popular employer offerings in recent years. These tools can help employees become financially stable so that they can move on to long-term savings and goals. In addition, gaining control over day-to-day financial challenges can help reduce the stress and anxiety associated with financial instability.

Now may be a particularly good time to emphasize the connection between financial and mental health wellness to your workforce. According to SoFi’s survey data, just over half of HR leaders recognize the impact financial stress has on employees’ mental health and two out of five said it impacts employees’ productivity and focus — an increase of 10% or more since SoFi’s last survey. What’s more, 74% of employees said these benefits impact their desire to stay with their employer.

Offer a Choice of Flexible Financial-Contribution Programs

Personalized benefits that are relevant to individuals’ situations can be especially helpful in reducing the financial stress employees are feeling right now. Depending on an employee’s personal situation, payroll deduction emergency savings accounts, student loan repayment programs, and/or debt management tools may be effective ways to help workers handle the financial stressors that may be contributing to depression, anxiety, and other mental illness.

This is a good time to take inventory and see what solutions might be missing from your financial well-being benefits. Questions to consider include:

•   Have you set up an automated emergency savings program for employees?

•   And if you have, are you sure your employees know it exists and how to participate?

•   Do you have a 401(k) matching program for employees paying off student loans?

•   Are your education and financial planning efforts aimed at all employees, not just those focused on long-term savings?

Help Employees Keep an Eye on Long-Range Goals, Too

Today’s high cost of living combined with immediate financial concerns like repaying student loans and credit card debt means that many employees are simply not saving enough for the future. In fact, SoFi’s financial wellness survey found that 45% of workers are stressed about not having enough money saved for retirement.

Despite the demand for short-term saving solutions, you may also want to help employees balance short- and long-term goals. Even for younger employees, you don’t want to take the focus completely off retirement and college savings benefits. And for employees who are closer to retirement, building savings is important, too. Helping everyone in your workforce, regardless of where they are, maintain a balance between short-term and long-range goals can be an important step to developing their overall financial well-being and lowering their stress.

The Takeaway

Human resource leaders, mental health professionals, and economists all agree that financial stress can have far-reaching consequences for your workforce, including increased mental and physical health issues and reduced engagement and productivity.

Given what we know about the connections between mental health and financial well-being, combining your mental health and financial well-being benefits to create customized packages accessible and meaningful to all employees can help ensure your workforce is ready for the challenges ahead.

SoFi at Work can help. We provide the benefits platforms and education resources that can enhance financial wellness throughout your workforce.

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.

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