In this episode of Redundancy Matters, June is joined by financial wellbeing expert Abby Birch to explore the often overlooked financial impact of redundancy. Together they discuss what financial wellbeing really means, how money and mental health are closely linked, and what HR professionals can realistically do to support people. The conversation covers practical signposting, helpful external resources, and how organisations can show care and credibility by acknowledging financial concerns as part of the redundancy process.
Useful Links From This Episode
Get in touch with Abby on LinkedIn
MoneyHelper – easy to navigate information on most subjects and links to trustworthy resources
StepChange – debt advice charity, offering free and confidential debt advice
Citizens Advice – information on most subjects, including applying for food bank vouchers
EntitledTo – check on eligibility for benefits
Visit the Wildwood Coaching website
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Transcript
Welcome to today's episode of Redundancy Matters, and today I'm
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:delighted to be joined by Abby Birch.
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:Abby is a financial wellbeing and money
expert with 25 years of experience
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:as a qualified financial advisor.
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:She's also a coach and a trainer, and
she helps organizations reduce financial.
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:Improve wellbeing and
build financial confidence.
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:And I'm really excited to be joined by
Abby today because this is a topic that
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:we haven't covered before on the podcast.
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:And we're gonna be talking
all about financial wellbeing
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:in the context of redundancy.
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:So welcome, Abby.
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:Abby Birch: Thank you very much June.
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:I'm what a pleasure to be here.
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:June Hogan: We are looking forward
to having a discussion all about
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:financial wellbeing and how that can
support people and support people who
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:are managing redundancies as well as
those people who are affected by it.
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:Abby, that was a really
quick introduction from me.
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:Would you like to introduce yourself
and tell the listeners a bit more
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:about you and your background?
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:Abby Birch: Yeah, thanks June.
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:I was a financial advisor for many.
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:Years and I worked with individuals
who are high net worth and who
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:had money that they wanted to
invest to build more wealth.
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:But I realized that in doing that
I wasn't really making that much of
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:a difference to individuals' lives
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:and that there's a huge, what we
call the advice gap in the uk,
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:and there's this huge s swat of people
who are need some help and support
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:with their money, but, can't access
traditional financial advice as it were.
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:And I realized that I'd really like
to support those people, which is
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:where the coaching came in really,
because it's much more accessible
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:way for people to be able to access.
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:Help and support around their finances.
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:And then from that looking at coaching
individuals people have started to
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:look towards their employers more and
more for support and help and guidance
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:around their financial situation.
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:So I move more into the corporate
financial education in the
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:workplace to help support that.
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:And I think one of the key
areas you mentioned, today's
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:about redundancy, is that.
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:That is quite a huge financial
shock for people when they're told
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:that they've been made redundant.
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:And it's a really good opportunity for
organizations to actually support people
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:and to show that they care more about,
it's not just about them working for
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:them, but they can actually help and
support 'em through that transition.
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:June Hogan: Oh, that's really interesting,
your journey from, as you say, working
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:with people who had money to invest
through to educating people who
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:wouldn't necessarily have had access.
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:And I think that financial wellbeing
and that education piece is something
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:that we can all benefit from.
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:And absolutely as you said there, well as
an emotional rollercoaster of redundancy.
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:There's also the financial implications,
which are very real for many people.
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:So looking forward to exploring the
ideas and the thoughts and some of
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:the insights that HR professionals
or leaders listening to this.
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:Episode can help people with without
going into the realms of financial
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:advice, which is clearly some, somewhere
that people aren't qualified to do.
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:Wonderful.
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:The podcast is called Redundancy
Matters, and I always ask the guests
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:this why does redundancy matter to you?
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:Abby Birch: So I personally have been made
redundant twice in my career and I've had.
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:Two very different experiences.
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:The first one was I worked
for a major high street bank.
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:I've been a financial advisor for
them for many years, and our roles
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:were changing quite considerably.
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:And with change as people don't often
always like change that comes along.
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:So my whole team were really looking
forward to being made redundant
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:and, put our names up almost
please, can we be made redundant?
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:Because we don't want to
be doing the ongoing role.
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:And so that was one experience.
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:And I'd been with the company and a,
major high Street bank for an a long time.
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:And so I had a reasonable
payout from that.
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:So that took away a lot of the
financial stress that we are talking
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:about because I knew that I had a
good buffer to be able to go away and
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:work out what I wanted to do next.
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:We were also put on gardening leave.
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:So again, and quite a long, I
think it was about six months
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:we were on gardening leave.
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:So again, a lot of time to be able to
prepare mentally and financially and
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:work out what our next steps were.
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:So that was a really good experience.
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:And on the flip side that I got made
redundant, which is what led me to work
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:for myself now and do what I'm doing now.
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:I got made redundant about three
years ago and that was a slightly
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:different, experience in the fact
that we were a startup company.
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:We had funding that was taken away
and it literally happened overnight.
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:So we had a meeting on like a Thursday
and we were told, and by the Monday
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:we no longer had a job, and because
hadn't been working for them for so
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:long, the payout wasn't as big and
it was a bit more stressful whilst I
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:tried to work out what I wanted to do.
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:Now it's worked out well for
me because I've continued and.
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:Built something from that
experience and become self-employed,
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:which is totally different.
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:So I can see both sides of the story
where, we welcomed the redundancy
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:versus it was a bit of a shock.
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:And what am I gonna do next?
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:June Hogan: Yeah.
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:That's really interesting, both ends
of that spectrum and even for those
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:people and I work with a variety
of clients who may be financially
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:stable and they may have been with
their employer for a reasonable
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:time, and then may be, an enhanced.
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:Redundancy payment, people will still
be naturally looking for some elements
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:of guidance in terms of what's the
best thing to do with their money, as
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:well as those people who, as you say,
have been with the company for a very
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:short period of time not financially
stable, hardly anything to go off.
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:And the financial pressures are very real.
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:So it's really interesting that you,
yeah, you can see that from those sides.
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:Abby Birch: I was lucky I'd
actually worked for the organization
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:for long enough to be eligible
for statutory re redundancy.
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:But there were quite a few of us within
the startup environment that weren't,
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:and that they were not gonna get anything
at all other than their notice period.
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:June Hogan: That is a situation which,
you know as a HR professional you really
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:feel for people in that situation.
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:And I know when as we go along,
we'll talk about some of the things
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:that we, you can offer as support.
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:so we talked a bit about the fact that
you specialize in financial wellbeing,
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:but what does that actually mean?
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:Tell us a bit more about
financial wellbeing.
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:Abby Birch: So financial wellbeing there's
a quite a good, description of financial
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:wellbeing, which is financial wellbeing
is about feeling secure and in control.
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:It's about making the most of your
money from day to day and dealing
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:with the unexpected and being on
track for a healthy financial future.
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:So financially resilient,
confident and empowered.
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:But to translate that into everyday
speak when we're talking about security.
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:And today is about being able to
afford the day-to-day things like
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:your mortgage, your rent, your food,
how you know how you get to work.
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:And in, when we are looking into the
future with the security, it's about.
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:Dealing with the unexpected.
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:Things like having an emergency
fund so that if you suddenly get
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:made redundant, you've got some
money that's there as a buffer.
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:Or if something happens that you're
not expecting, the boiler breaking
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:down that's very apt this week
in the freezing cold, isn't it?
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:That you've got some money to be able to
fall back onto to, to help you through
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:those unexpected financial shocks.
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:But then we also talk about choices.
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:So choices.
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:Today are things like being able to afford
to go out for dinner or go on holiday.
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:Having that extra money on top
of your day-to-day costs that you
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:have to that are non-negotiable
is how I would describe them.
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:On top of that, that you can be able to
afford to, pay Netflix, go for dinner,
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:go for holiday, those kind of things.
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:But again, when you're
looking to the future.
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:Those choices are your
own financial goals.
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:So when you're gonna retire, have you got
enough money put aside into your pension?
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:Or if you're trying to buy a house
at the opposite end of that kind of
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:scale, have you got money put aside
to be able to pay your deposit?
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:So if you've got all of those four things
together, you normally pretty, financial
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:wellbeing is pretty secure and you
should feel quite good about your money.
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:And why that's important is that financial
wellbeing is considered to be one of
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:the four pillars of overall wellbeing.
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:So you've got physical, mental, social,
and the last one is your financial.
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:Now, some people would describe
that as like almost the foundation
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:to the other three pillars.
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:That because, without financial
wellbeing, without money, you
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:can't do any of the other things.
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:So you can't.
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:You can't, go to the gym and you
can't look after your health.
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:'cause you might not be able to
afford the right food, for instance.
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:Social is another one.
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:You might not be able to afford to
go out with friends or, spend time
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:with your family or drive and do the
things that you want to be able to do.
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:And, the mental health one money and.
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:Mental health are intrinsically
linked, so your money situation can
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:really affect your mental health.
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:So that really comes into redundancy.
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:A sudden financial shock can
really affect your mental health.
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:If you're suffering with poor
mental health, that can really
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:affect how you deal with your money
and how you approach your money.
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:So for instance, you might not want to
pay your bills or you might not want
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:to open envelopes, or you might put
it off, or you just can't physically
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:face doing it because of your own.
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:Poor mental health.
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:So the two things are
really intrinsically linked.
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:Certainly with the money and mental
health side of it, but as I say it's
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:like one of the four pillars, but it's
also can be considered the foundation
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:of overall financial wellbeing.
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:June Hogan: Really interesting the way
that you've described it in context.
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:It's not just something that you need
to think about almost oh yeah, I need
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:to remember to manage my finances.
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:It's intrinsically linked to broader
wellbeing and really interesting what
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:you said there about that connection
with mental health and how that spiral.
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:Can affect people because,
redundancy has the potential to
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:significantly impact mental wellbeing.
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:And yeah, I think this is a really
important topic to be talking about.
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:And hopefully, helping.
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:HR professionals think about this
in line with not just when they're
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:managing redundancies, but from
a broader perspective as well in
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:terms of the wellbeing for their
organizations, which I know is
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:something that you work with people on.
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:And so that connection that you mentioned
there about, a financial shock and the
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:connection between how people feel,
their emotions and their kind of.
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:habits, or maybe you should say
reluctance to pay bills or overwhelm.
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:I think that's a really important
one for people to understand.
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:And so when you talk about financial
advice versus financial coaching.
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:Just talk about the difference, if you
like, between those two, because as I
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:know from my background, if anyone ever
mentioned anything financial related
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:in a redundancy process I just would
say you'll have to go and talk to the
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:pensions people, or you'd have to go
and talk to the benefits providers, et
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:cetera, because you never want to be.
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:Stepping across that line of advising
so what's the difference between
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:advice and coaching, would you say?
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:Abby Birch: Yeah, so I think the
difference is it's what we would
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:call advice versus guidance.
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:And so when I was a financial advisor,
I would spend quite a considerable
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:amount of time with my clients and we
would take down all of their financial
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:information, everything they've got.
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:Then I would go away and
write a recommendation.
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:And the reason I say that is that
it is, the word is very important.
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:I would tell people what
to do with their money.
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:So it was very important that I had
a picture of their overall financial
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:situation to be able to go and make
those recommendations and give advice and
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:tell people what to do with their money.
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:It was up to them whether
they took my advice or not,
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:but, ultimately I would say.
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:You've got this amount of money.
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:You need to go and put it in
X, Y, Z, and this is how much
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:you should put in X, Y, Z.
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:This is what you should invest
in, blah, et cetera, et cetera.
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:Whereas the difference with guidance
is, and it's really about language.
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:It's not telling somebody what
to do, it's talking to them
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:about what their options are.
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:So it's very similar to coaching as in
probably if people are familiar with
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:the grow model, those kind of things.
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:It's going through that process with
people to look at what their goals are.
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:What their situation is, realistically
what their options are, the pros
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:and cons of all of those options.
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:And then it's entirely up to
somebody to actually go away and
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:decide if they want to act upon that
themselves or, what options fit them.
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:And it's non-regulated so anybody can talk
about, and give guidance around money.
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:So the difference is very much language
based, but also it's not saying, oh Monzo,
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:they do a really good deal on X, Y, and Z.
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:You should go and have a look at that,
or you must go and speak to this person
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:and transfer your pension to that person.
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:So I think if you are thinking about your
language and how you're talking to people
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:and, talking to them about different
options and signposted them to credible
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:resources, that does not fall into the
the advice side of things whatsoever.
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:So I think if you find yourself
talking about specifics, then
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:you're probably falling into advice.
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:But if you're talking in
general and signposting people,
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:then that's absolutely fine.
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:And I did some work around what's in
hrs remit and what's not in hrs remit.
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:June, things like financial education
and resources, that's not advice.
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:So if you've got financial education
and resources on your websites, on
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:your intranet or your pension providers
signposting people to that's not advice.
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:Financial wellbeing policies
within your organization or having
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:a financial wellbeing policy,
that's perfectly acceptable.
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:Having access to financial counseling
or coaching or advice with a.
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:Expert.
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:That's absolutely fine.
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:And signposting people to, to that and
awareness training, all of those kind of
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:things that you are not actually giving
the advice or guidance is absolutely fine,
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:but, signposting people to them is fine.
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:Doing surveys and assessing needs and
things like that's all absolutely fine.
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:Within.
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:Hrs remit and create, one of the things,
and you, me, you mentioned it, is like
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:creating that o open culture about money
and allowing people to actually ask the
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:questions, to be able to support them
in the, support them in the first place
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:is a, is again, perfectly acceptable.
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:But what you can't do is provide
personal financial advice.
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:June, you've just been made redundant.
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:You've got this amount of money.
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:I think you should go and put
it into a medium risk fund
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:managing people's finances.
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:I have come across HR people who have
wanted to help so much that they've
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:attended, like citizens advice meetings
with people and gone through their
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:statements and help them create a budget
that's probably crossing the line to
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:a certain extent no matter how helpful
it is tracking or requesting detailed
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:financial information, we know that.
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:Some regulated roles.
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:I'm used to it, I have to provide bank
details, credit reports, all of those
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:kind of things if I want to be an advisor.
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:Over and above that, tracking what
people are doing unless it's part of your
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:regulatory requirements, is a big no go.
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:And imposing financial choices
on employers is another one.
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:So all of you have been made redundant.
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:You've all got to go and open a.
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:I'm gonna use a different bank,
'cause I used Monzo earlier, but
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:Lloyd's, TSB Bank and or Lloyd's Bank.
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:And you have to put all your redundancy in
that that, again, is crossing into advice.
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:June Hogan: That's a really
helpful distinction there, Abby.
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:And that piece around wanting to help
and, maybe say going along to citizens
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:advice or asking someone who may
be feeling financially overwhelmed,
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:bring all your bank statements in
and we can go through it together.
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:I can understand where someone
might be coming from with that,
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:particularly if you've got someone
who you think is vulnerable.
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:However, what you said at the start
there, it's about the language.
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:So a suggestion might be for you to
sit down with all of your bills, find
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:a family member or a friend who can
help you if you find that overwhelming.
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:. It's guiding, but you are not
getting involved in any of that.
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:So you can feel like you're supporting
the individual, but you're not
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:crossing any of those boundaries.
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:Abby Birch: And I think that's the thing.
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:Is it once you're, you are
opening yourself up, aren't you?
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:If you're getting involved into
somebody saying you told me.
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:And when, even if it's the, with the,
and there's lots of organizations
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:which we'll talk about in a moment.
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:Who can do that work for you and who
can help and sit down and talk people
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:through who are, qualified and credible.
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:And a lot of them are
government backed as well.
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:And charities that can actually support
people in the right way and be able
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:to talk them through those kind of
things if they are overwhelmed by it.
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:So you don't have to do it, is what
I'm saying is, and as much as we
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:want to help sometimes helping is
signposting rather than getting involved.
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:June Hogan: Yeah, no, absolutely.
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:and so in a redundancy consultation
process, what would you recommend from a
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:financial wellbeing perspective in terms
of best practice that anyone listening
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:to this you would want them to include?
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:And again, it's about signposting,
but what are some of the things that
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:people can do to make sure that they're
managing that really important pillar of
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:financial wellbeing during redundancy.
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:Abby Birch: I think make sure
that the information is available.
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:Actually, I take a step
back from that to be fair.
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:To make sure it is an integral part of.
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:The consultation process and that
people are aware that they can
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:ask questions about their money.
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:They can vent that they're concerned
about their money, which gives
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:you good data anyway, doesn't it?
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:To be able to then work out what solutions
are gonna I use the word solutions.
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:Carefully.
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:But what solutions might be suitable
for people and then you can start
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:building on that, can't you?
320
:So once you know what people are
asking and what they're worried about.
321
:But I think it's having that
awareness, isn't it, in the initial
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:that it is a big financial shock.
323
:People, they may have felt like,
even people who've got things sorted
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:or have an emergency fund still
may feel that financial shock.
325
:And one of the things
that I talk about is what?
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:Influences our financial wellbeing
and where we are at in our lifestyle
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:in our life cycle has a big impact
on our financial wellbeing anyway.
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:If suddenly something changes, then
that can knock you off course, can't it?
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:So I think first of all, have
the awareness, but also to build
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:into your consultation process.
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:Sign posting and easily
accessible information.
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:So if you've got a.
333
:Benefits provider who's got some financial
education, make sure that's really
334
:obvious to people that they've got, that
there's lots of benefit providers who have
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:financial coaching or financial education
platforms that might be able to help.
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:But it is making it easy for people
to access 'cause people don't
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:know what they don't know do they?
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:Gene And what, again, when I've worked
in organizations, one of the things I've
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:come across a lot is that a lot of the
financial, if the financial support is
340
:obvious to HR and the people who set it
up, but the engagement is low because
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:people aren't necessarily aware of it.
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:And once you make people aware of
it and you bring it into part of
343
:your culture, then that means that
people are able to access it easier.
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:And I think if you're going through
something like a consultation process
345
:for redundancy and money is gonna be
really a top concern of people and their
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:financial wellbeing is a concern, make it
really clear what you've got available.
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:June Hogan: And as you say that kind
of step back in that culturally, before
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:any of this happens best practice would
be that financial wellbeing is part of.
349
:That kind the conversation.
350
:But yeah, making people aware
of access to that support.
351
:And so in terms of some of the things
that we talked about, boundaries
352
:earlier, what you can and can't do.
353
:And I think that was super helpful.
354
:But in terms of.
355
:professionals who have people who are
concerned about money, undoubtedly,
356
:as you say even depending on what,
where you are in your lifecycle.
357
:There could be people who you might
assume might not be concerned about money.
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:Maybe you've got a director sitting
in front of you, but you just don't
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:know their personal circumstances.
360
:And neither should you be
delving into them either.
361
:But I guess what I'm thinking about
is what can HR professionals do to
362
:support people who are really concerned
about money without treading over and
363
:stepping over those important boundaries?
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:Abby Birch: And we've talked a lot
about signposting and there are
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:some really great organizations
out there which are also really un.
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:An under well known, if
that's a way to phrase that.
367
:But there are some great
organizations that that can help.
368
:So the first one is if people are
worried about it and it's affecting
369
:their mental health, then organizations
have mental health first aiders.
370
:And so that would be like maybe a first
step, but, and making sure that your men
371
:your mental health first aid is a clued up
on some of the signposting around money.
372
:That's a good step as well.
373
:But you've got people like
the Samaritans that you could
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:add their telephone number in.
375
:And again, the Samaritans have
got financial support people.
376
:On their helplines, but the biggest
one, which most people have never
377
:heard of June which is a really great
resource for everybody, is Money Helper.
378
:It's an arms length
government organization.
379
:It is paid for through the government
and they are money helper is a,
380
:website, but it's not just a website.
381
:So you can get, you can speak to people,
you can do text chat on their website
382
:and they've got a huge encyclopedic
knowledge base of all financial topics.
383
:So for instance, if you go onto Money
Helper and it is literally just http://www.money
384
:helper.org.uk.
385
:In fact, if you just Google
Money Helper, it pings up.
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:'cause obviously it's a government one.
387
:So it's quite top of the top of Google.
388
:It literally has anything that
you can possibly think of.
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:So if you type redundancy, and
the first thing that pops up
390
:is a redundancy calculator.
391
:So you can check whether
you're being, whether your
392
:redundancy is what you expect.
393
:The second thing is, do I need
to pay tax on my redundancy?
394
:And there's a huge amount of articles
just around redundancy, but then also
395
:they've got the benefits in there.
396
:So you can have a look in there and see
what benefits you might be entitled to.
397
:What to do with your pension.
398
:So it's literally any financial topic
that you can possibly imagine is covered
399
:in there and it's government backed,
so it's up to date, credible, and it's
400
:something that you can really, believe in
the information is gonna be correct for
401
:the people that you are signposting there.
402
:So that's a really great one.
403
:Now, if people are really concerned
and they come to you and say, look,
404
:I'm really worried that I'm not
gonna be able to pay my rent on the
405
:first month that I'm made redundant.
406
:Another really great organization
is step Change Debt Charity.
407
:And they can offer help and advice on
how to approach your providers, create
408
:a budget what you need to do if you
are in the position that you may not
409
:be able to pay some of your creditors.
410
:And if you think creditors is things
like council tax, rent mortgage.
411
:Not just debt and credit cards, they may
very well be able to help somebody who's
412
:about to be made redundant and may not
be able to afford all of those things.
413
:They can put in place IVAs, they
can advise you on bankruptcy.
414
:They can get you some breathing space.
415
:There's something called breathing
space which means that you don't have
416
:to pay your bills for a few months
and that may very well be suitable for
417
:people who are being made redundant.
418
:Again, I can't recommend them.
419
:I can't recommend them highly enough.
420
:They are fantastic.
421
:They do some really good work.
422
:And, may very, will be
a really great toolkit.
423
:And June, I'll send you all of
these links and Citizens Advice
424
:Bureau you can actually go into a
Citizen's Advice Bureau and get money
425
:guidance there and then on the spot.
426
:But the reason I quite often include
them is if you need food bank vouchers,
427
:you actually have to get a voucher
from the Citizens Advice Bureau.
428
:You can't just turn up a food bank
and ask for you actually have to
429
:go through the process and get
a voucher to be able to do that.
430
:And that's where you go.
431
:So they're probably the main ones
that I would incorporate in any
432
:communications maybe that you send
out around the consultation process.
433
:If you're worried about money or you
wanna find out more information about
434
:redundancy and what that means to
you, here is the money helper link.
435
:If you're worried about debt, here is
the step change organiz step change.
436
:If you're worried about
your mental health, here's.
437
:A list of our mental health first aiders
and the Samaritans telephone number.
438
:So it's just there that people don't
actually need to come and ask you.
439
:June Hogan: Those sound like really
helpful websites and I love the fact
440
:that Money Helper is government backed
and so it's credible, that you are
441
:referring people into up to date and
authentic advice that they can go and
442
:get for their own personal circumstances.
443
:So to that point, we've been talking
about the theme of signposting is
444
:what, this is, what this is about.
445
:Abby Birch: Yeah.
446
:June Hogan: So that sounds super helpful.
447
:My experience of redundancy was that I
went to the job center as it was called
448
:then because I had no reason not to go and
find out if I was eligible for benefits.
449
:So I didn't make any assumptions that
because I had been made redundant and
450
:because I had a redundancy payment,
that would mean I wouldn't get benefits.
451
:So certainly something that we.
452
:Suggest to people that we work with is
you might want to go and inquire at the
453
:DWP and see what might be available.
454
:Where else can people go to see
what they might be entitled to
455
:from a benefits perspective.
456
:Abby Birch: So you can go onto the
government website and type in all
457
:your details, but there's another way.
458
:Website, and it's called entitled
to and to as in TO entitled to.co
459
:uk.
460
:And you can pop in all your details
and it tells you which benefits you
461
:may or may not be available for.
462
:Even if you are working, it's worth
going and doing that because sometimes
463
:people are not earning enough and they're
automatically eligible for some benefits.
464
:Things like single occupancy
council tax for instance, is one
465
:that quite often gets missed and
there is a huge amount of benefits.
466
:I think it's something along
the lines of about 23 billion
467
:that are unclaimed every year.
468
:So entitled two is a really good
place to go and have a look.
469
:The government website is a little bit
more tricky and I think that's why they
470
:set the, it's an independent website
up, so you just go and pop in all your
471
:details and then it will tell you what
sort of benefits you're eligible to,
472
:June Hogan: wonderful.
473
:Thank you.
474
:And we'll put the link to all of
these in the show notes so that
475
:people can easily access them.
476
:And you mentioned this before
as well, in terms of really
477
:bringing everyone together.
478
:So when you're in a redundancy
consultation process, whether that be for,
479
:50 people or for five people is looking
to gather support from organizations
480
:that you are already working with.
481
:So your pension provider.
482
:EAP, that kind of thing.
483
:What else could someone who's embarking
on a redundancy consultation process
484
:think about in terms of access to
support that might be there, that they
485
:might maybe not know about, that they
can bring in as part of this process?
486
:Abby Birch: There's definitely some
organizations out there that offer,
487
:things like salary, advance and low
cost loans with through organizations.
488
:So if you've got any of those quite often.
489
:As a aside, as an aside, they
also offer financial education
490
:and can support with that.
491
:Pension providers you've
mentioned quite often offer some.
492
:Support, certainly around
the pensions and redundancy.
493
:They might be able to offer workshops.
494
:And then there's specialists like me.
495
:I could offer, I offer workshops.
496
:I mentioned upskilling, your Mental
Health First Aid, just to be able to
497
:have those conversations about money.
498
:That's something that I I offer.
499
:There's other organizations out there as
well that offer that upskilling around
500
:money for mental health first aiders.
501
:And it's just looking through your
existing benefits pack really and
502
:finding out what you've already
got and if there are any expertise
503
:you can leverage from that already.
504
:As I say, the pensions
ones a really good example.
505
:One that's not quite so well known
is the salary advanced companies.
506
:A lot of them do have financial
education and financial wellbeing.
507
:Education as a.
508
:At a, as an additional benefit
onto the salary advance.
509
:And again, it's just, working with
people to find out what they can offer.
510
:June Hogan: So I think just wrapping
things up, really, how would you summarize
511
:the approach that if you were, coaching.
512
:A HR professional who's about to
embark on a redundancy process
513
:now and thinking about bringing
financial wellbeing into that process.
514
:What would be some of your key sort of
takeaways for people to really remember
515
:about what's important in this process?
516
:Abby Birch: I think sometimes it's
forgotten, but it's interesting because.
517
:Over a long period of time,
the employee stroke employer
518
:relationship has changed, hasn't it?
519
:Especially around money.
520
:It used to be very transactional.
521
:So you'd go to work, you'd do your
hours, you'd get paid, you'd leave.
522
:You'd come in, you'd leave all
your problems at home, you'd leave
523
:work and you'd leave all your work
at work and so on and so forth.
524
:But over the years, and certainly
nowadays that you know that transactional
525
:relationship has changed completely and
people actually look to their employers
526
:for help with their overall wellbeing and.
527
:Are looking for safe, flexible, inclusive
workplaces, which this is all part of
528
:that making people feel safe when they're
exiting the business as much is as
529
:important as when they're working for you.
530
:And they're looking for this help and
support because they see their employer
531
:as a credible source of information.
532
:And so if you can provide
credible information for
533
:people, that's only gonna build.
534
:If you've got people within the
business now, like long-term trust
535
:and loyalty, but when people are
exiting, it means that they feel
536
:supported, even, in a hard transition.
537
:June Hogan: Yeah, it's all
part of that managing that.
538
:Exit in the best way possible.
539
:And I talk a lot on the podcast
about treating people with respect
540
:and empathy and compassion.
541
:And up until the very last day, they are,
a valuable member of your organization.
542
:And so how you manage
that exit really matters.
543
:And so I've really enjoyed exploring.
544
:How the financial wellbeing piece,
so how can people find you, Abby,
545
:if they want to find out more
about your financial wellbeing and
546
:what you can do for organizations?
547
:Abby Birch: So I'm, you can find me on
LinkedIn which is quite straightforward.
548
:And also I've got very
straightforward website addresses.
549
:
550
:June Hogan: Wonderful.
551
:I'll put those links in the
show notes for people as well.
552
:And yeah.
553
:Thank you so much, Abby.
554
:I know this episode's
gonna be super valuable.
555
:It's been really practical and
really helpful, and thank you for
556
:sharing all your insights with me.
557
:Abby Birch: Thank you for having me.
558
:Thank you so much for listening
to the Redundancy Matters podcast.
559
:I hope you found today's episode helpful.
560
:It would mean a lot to me if you
would follow rate and review this
561
:podcast wherever you listen to your
podcasts, as this helps it reach more
562
:people who are managing redundancies.
563
:Let me know what you thought,
and if you have ideas for future
564
:episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
565
:You can find me on LinkedIn, June
Hogan, and get in touch via my
566
:website, wildwood coaching.co.uk,
567
:where you'll also find more resources
to help you manage redundancies.
568
:I hope you'll join me again soon for
the next episode of Redundancy Matters.