Talking about money worries at work is traditionally taboo, but the University of Birmingham is changing that. Katie Compton, HR project officer, shares how financial education is becoming central to wellbeing, helping staff feel supported and engaged.
Financial education has long been the missing piece in many workplace wellbeing programmes. While employers have embraced mental health and flexible working policies, many still shy away from addressing money worries, often seen as too personal or too complex. Yet for the University of Birmingham, financial wellbeing is becoming a central pillar of its HR and benefits strategy.
Katie Compton, HR project officer at the university, has a role that is unusual in higher education. It bridges both the reward and benefits team and the wellbeing function. That crossover has allowed her to develop a holistic view of what employee support should look like. “My role sits in HR, between two departments,” she explains. “I work for the pay and reward team, and as part of that I look after staff benefits and engagement. The other bit is the wellbeing side. I do a lot of wellbeing events. Financial wellbeing has come on board with that.”
A clear HR benefit
The university’s decision to introduce financial education was not triggered by legislation but by a straight forward principle. “Simply because it’s the right thing to do for our people,” Compton says. “We support employees with all sorts of things such as reasonable adjustments, family friendly policies, etc. So it feels right to support financial wellbeing.”
There was, however, a strategic HR driver too. Compton notes that external financial pressures may affect work performance: “If you think that financial worries can impact your mood, how you come to work, etc, putting those support measures and tools in place allows people to deal with those external factors so that they can focus and be the best version of themselves when they’re in work.”
In research published in August this year, 72 percent of UK employees reported feeling stressed about money. The nationwide survey, conducted from Hymans Robertson Personal Wealth, found that rising living costs had forced 64 percent of people to cut back on essentials. More than a quarter (27 percent) told researchers they are “struggling or in crisis” financially.
For HR leaders trying to win over a finance director to invest in financial education benefits, the dual arguments of moral responsibility and business benefit are compelling.
Testing the waters with tasters
The university’s initiative started small. During an earlier financial wellbeing month, the employer trialled free sessions from provider FinWell to gauge staff interest.
“We introduced the free sessions to give people a taste and see what the appetite was,” Compton explains. In these sessions she was impressed by how open the team from FinWell were about their own money experiences.
“That allowed other people in the group to start commenting and saying, ‘I’ve been struggling with this’, or to ask a question that you wouldn’t normally ask a group of strangers. They make it feel like it’s okay to ask, and it is okay to ask.”
Compton is candid about her own late start in financial planning. “My financial journey started when I was 40, and I’m still learning things,” she says.
This underlines an important truth: financial wellbeing programmes are not just about products or workshops, but about creating safe spaces where employees can talk openly.
The success of the taster sessions was quantified in terms of employee engagement, which justified investment. The employer now offers a suite of workshops, masterclasses and resources from the provider.
For HR teams under pressure to justify new spend, this low-cost pilot model offers a pragmatic way to build the case.
Making pensions relevant
One of the standout elements of Birmingham’s programme is its focus on pensions. Compton admits that engaging younger employees on the topic is not easy. “Although talking about having a pension in your 20s is probably not really cool, as my kids will tell me, it is really relevant,” she says.
The university is running four dedicated pension sessions alongside broader money management workshops, aiming to demystify retirement planning and position it as a lifelong journey rather than a late-career scramble. “If you want to be able to retire and have a retirement that looks like XYZ when you’re older, you need to make sure that’s going to happen, and nobody is going to do that for you,” she adds.
Peer power
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Birmingham’s approach is the way financial wellbeing has filtered into day-to-day culture. Compton has set up a specific financial wellbeing tab in the employer’s Teams channel. It mixes practical updates with lighter content and savings tips.
“When we put up a FinWell post, there’s always lots of reactions or gifs and comments.” she notes. Click-throughs to intranet resources are also rising steadily.
She has also run collective savings challenges, such as an initiative in August where staff pledge to reduce discretionary spending and bring in packed lunches. “At least once a week our team will sit and eat our packed lunches together… we’re all human and trying to save a little bit of money,” she says.
This informal, peer-to-peer element is powerful. Around Christmas time, Compton’s employer has a savings challenge. In the spirit of openness, she shares her own savings progress on a chart. “At the end of it, I’ll take a photo of my money that I’ve enveloped.” This, in addition to the financial education sessions, has helped to normalise conversations about money in the workplace, breaking down a long-standing taboo.
What’s next
Compton is keen to see financial education evolve into more personalised, tech-driven formats. “Something interactive, where you’re personalising an experience for somebody,” she suggests.
“So whether that’s something like a savings goal that’s maybe tracked, or something that nudges you to have a look at what else you could do to save, or even something intuitive would be nice to see.”
This points to where the market may be heading: away from generic approaches and towards adaptive, data-driven tools that mirror the personalised experiences employees have come to expect in consumer apps.
Advice for HR: don’t wait
For Compton, the case for financial wellbeing is simple. “It fits into a responsible reward strategy really well,” she argues.
“It shows that it’s not just about paying people, it’s about helping people make the most of what you’re paying them. So I think for me, if you’re thinking about a financial wellbeing strategy, or kick starting financial wellbeing education, you’re already ahead of a lot of people. It’s a no brainer really.”
At Birmingham, the initiative is still in its early stages, but the early signs of engagement and cultural change are promising. For HR leaders weighing whether to act, Compton’s experience is clear: don’t wait for legislation. The time to start is now.
