The whole employee

The latest buzz in HR is to provide financial management advice to employees, to avoid situations where you give employees a $300 a month raise and they go get themselves a $400 a month car payment.

It opens an interesting question: how much of your employees personal life is your business? Sometimes employees make it your business in their raise requests. But in general what is the right balance?

I think the answer lies in the difference between being helpful and being intrusive. If it is offered as resources to employees to make them happier, and happier employees are more productive, with the recognition that it is personal and not something you can push, then it is certainly worth doing.

However, if you think that micromanaging your employees lives is the way to make them satisfied with their salary, I don't see how anything gets better.