Back to Charities & Not-for-Profits Service 03 — Financial Wellbeing

Financial anxiety is costing your organisation more than you can see.

Staff who are worried about money are less focused, less engaged, and more likely to leave. In a not-for-profit, where purpose is the competitive advantage, financial pressure among your workforce is a risk your mission cannot afford to ignore. Aetas in the Workplace provides a structured, bespoke response — built around your organisation, not applied from a template.

Powered by Aetas in the Workplace

Financial wellbeing services are delivered by Aetas in the Workplace — a consultancy-led service that supports employers in building structured, evidenced financial wellbeing programmes for their people. Where regulated financial advice is required, this is provided separately by Aetas Wealth, a trading style of Insight Financial Associates Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registration number 458421).

77%
of employees say financial worries affect their performance at work
£6.2bn
estimated annual cost of financial stress through absenteeism and presenteeism
50–200%
typical cost of replacing a skilled employee as a proportion of their annual salary
What financial wellbeing covers

A consultancy-led programme built around your workforce

Aetas in the Workplace takes a consultancy-led approach — every engagement begins with a diagnostic before anything is introduced. What is recommended, and how it is delivered, reflects your organisation: your team size, your culture, your budget, and the specific pressures your people are facing. Nothing is templated. Nothing is added by default.

01

Employee benefits consultancy

In the voluntary sector, a well-structured benefits package can be a meaningful differentiator in a competitive talent market — even where salaries are constrained. Aetas reviews your existing pension and benefits arrangements to assess whether they are structured effectively, priced appropriately, and genuinely understood by your employees.

  • Pension scheme review — structure, employer contributions, and value
  • Benefits audit — what is in place, what it costs, and what is being used
  • Recommendations for improvement, restructuring, or renegotiation
  • Implementation managed on your behalf, including all communications
02

Financial resilience workshops

Financial anxiety is driven less by a lack of benefits than by uncertainty. When people do not know what support exists, whether it applies to them, or where to turn when something changes, that uncertainty affects focus and performance. Workshops are practical and grounded in everyday reality — designed to replace uncertainty with clarity and confidence.

  • Day-to-day money management and building financial resilience
  • Understanding your workplace benefits, pension, and entitlements
  • Mid-career planning — mortgages, protection, family finances
  • Planning for later life — retirement, inheritance, and legacy
  • Sessions designed around the specific life stages of your workforce
03

One-to-one financial guidance

Some financial concerns are personal and do not belong in a group setting. Where individual support is appropriate, confidential one-to-one sessions with a regulated financial planner are available as part of the engagement — at no additional cost to the employer. This is one of the most valued elements of the programme, and one of the most difficult to access independently.

  • Confidential one-to-one sessions with a regulated financial planner
  • Available to all employees, at no charge to the individual
  • Covering personal financial situations, plans, and concerns
  • Signposting to regulated advice where required
04

Wellbeing and incentive initiatives

Through the Aetas Collective — our curated network of specialist partners — targeted wellbeing and incentive programmes can be introduced where a clear need has been identified. These are proportionate to your size and budget, and introduced only where they will make a genuine difference. Employee communications are managed throughout, so that what is introduced is understood and used.

  • Access to the Aetas Collective network of wellbeing specialists
  • Targeted programmes introduced only where a clear need exists
  • Proportionate to your organisation's size and resources
  • All staff communications and engagement managed on your behalf
Why it works in the not-for-profit context

Purpose brings people in. Financial security keeps them.

Charity and not-for-profit staff often accept lower salaries in exchange for meaningful work. That trade-off is sustainable when people feel financially secure and understand the full value of what they receive. When they do not — when benefits are opaque, pensions are poorly explained, and financial concerns have no outlet — the equation shifts. People leave, not because the mission matters less, but because financial pressure has become harder to ignore than purpose.

The solution is not always higher salaries. In many cases, it is greater clarity. A workforce that understands its benefits, knows where to turn for guidance, and feels that the organisation has invested in their financial wellbeing is more engaged, more resilient, and more likely to stay. That is not just a people issue — for a not-for-profit, it is a mission-critical one.

Aetas ITW is built for organisations where every person matters. The programme is scaled to your size, designed around your workforce, and managed so that the burden on your leadership team is minimal throughout.

What makes this different

Bespoke by design. Not a platform. Not a product.

Most financial wellbeing solutions in the market are designed for large corporate employers. They rely on broad digital platforms, generic content libraries, and low-touch delivery. In a not-for-profit context, engagement is typically low and impact is hard to measure.

Aetas ITW takes a consultancy-led approach. Every engagement begins with a diagnostic conversation before anything is recommended. What is introduced reflects your organisation — not a default package applied across all clients. No two programmes look the same, because no two organisations are the same.

For charities and not-for-profits, this distinction matters more than it does for large corporates. Your workforce is smaller, your culture is particular, and the margin for disengagement is significantly lower.

How it works

Three stages — light on your team throughout

From the first conversation to an ongoing programme, Aetas manages the process. Your leadership team has full visibility and retains control — without being required to manage providers or coordinate delivery themselves.

01

Discovery conversation

A no-cost conversation to understand your organisation, your people, and your current benefits and support arrangements. We look at where financial pressure may be showing up and what is already in place. No obligation beyond the conversation itself.

02

Diagnostic and programme design

A structured diagnostic identifies which services will have the greatest relevance and impact for your workforce. Nothing is recommended that does not fit your context and constraints. A clear, costed programme is agreed before anything is introduced to your team.

03

Managed delivery and ongoing review

Aetas coordinates all delivery, handles employee communications, and reviews engagement and impact on an ongoing basis. Most leaders find the process considerably lighter than they anticipated — and the feedback from their teams considerably stronger.

Common questions

What organisations typically ask

Employee Assistance Programmes typically provide reactive, crisis-focused support — they are valuable but they are not a financial wellbeing programme. An EAP does not review your benefits, run financial resilience workshops, provide one-to-one guidance from a financial planner, or give your employees the knowledge and confidence to manage their finances proactively. Aetas ITW sits alongside an EAP, not in place of it, and addresses a different and complementary set of needs.
Financial anxiety does not respect purpose. People who are motivated by their work are still vulnerable to the practical pressures of financial uncertainty — and in many cases, the gap between what they earn and what they need creates a specific tension for not-for-profit staff that the private sector does not face in the same way. Supporting your people financially is not at odds with your mission — it is what makes it sustainable.
One-to-one sessions are provided at no charge to the individual employee. They are delivered confidentially by a regulated financial planner, either in person or by video call, and cover whatever the individual would like to discuss — from everyday money concerns to longer-term planning. The employer does not have sight of what is discussed. The sessions are one of the most valued parts of the programme and are frequently cited by employees as something they could not have accessed independently.
In a team of ten or fifteen, the impact of one disengaged or financially stressed person is felt by everyone around them. The cost of losing them — recruiting, inducting, and bringing someone new up to speed — is disproportionate. Aetas ITW is designed for organisations of this size. The programme is scaled to fit, and the discovery conversation is provided at no cost so you can understand what it might look like before committing to anything.
The workshops and group sessions are educational in nature and do not constitute regulated financial advice. Where individual regulated advice is appropriate — for example, around pension transfers, investment decisions, or protection planning — this is provided separately by Aetas Wealth, a trading style of Insight Financial Associates Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registration number 458421).

Find out what financial wellbeing could look like for your organisation

A no-cost conversation to understand your workforce, your current arrangements, and what a structured, proportionate programme could deliver for your people and your organisation.

The three services — charities and not-for-profits