2 min read

7 Ways To Manage Employee Financial Stress

In 2021, employers lost 4.7 billion dollars per week due to employee financial stress. It resulted in 15.3 hours of lost productivity per employee, per week.

COVID-19 has caused many changes in the lives of employees and their families. Financial stress is undoubtedly at the top of that list. The American Psychology Association's 2022 Stress in America study reports that stress about money is the highest recorded since 2015, with 66% of respondents saying that money is a significant source of stress.

Due to this stress, many employees are focusing their attention on how to strengthen their financial options. A recent study by BrightPlan shows that 88% of employees now expect to receive financial support from their employers. The study also determined that financial wellness benefits are now the number one most desired employee benefit.

With that in mind, employers will now need to view these programs as a necessity to meet the growing demand and to address the losses in employee productivity. For those companies that already offer financial wellness progress, it will be important to audit the performance of their programs and to evaluate how to make them stronger.

But what are employees seeking in these programs? In recent surveys, employees have been very specific as to what they are seeking. Their requests fall outside of the typical offerings such as having a 401k provider come in to speak once or twice per year, offering a flexible spending account (FSA), or providing a cost of living bonus.

According to many recent studies, employees are seeking these 7 little-known financial wellness solutions to reduce their financial stress:

Auto-enrollment into 401k plans (Eligible employees are automatically enrolled in the company's plan at a default contribution rate — streamlining the enrollment process and still giving them the option to opt-out if desired).
Split to save feature ( allows employees to designate a fixed portion or percentage of their paycheck each pay period into a designated account.)
Ongoing financial wellness dialogues with experts
Financial coaching on specific topics (budgeting, debt repayment, college planning, etc.)
Student loan repayment support
Online financial education training (outside of just retirement planning)
Access to digital budgeting tools

Adding these features could be a game-changer for organizations seeking to regain their footing due to COVID-19 and beyond. Also, to those seeking to cut down on lost dollars due to employee productivity. Employers that have consistently offered Financial Wellness programs to their employees with the aforementioned features have seen the following benefits:

Reduced Absenteeism
Reductions in employee turnover
Higher productivity levels
An edge when recruiting top talent
Lower healthcare costs (due to reduced stress)
Fewer Workmen’s compensation claims
Stronger internal brand loyalty

Message me here on LinkedIn if you’d like to learn about the financial wellness experiences I help companies to offer and how I can help your company reduce financial stress on its employees.

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