Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

CoronavirusFinancial wellbeingLatest News

Business must do more to promote workers’ financial wellbeing

by Adam McCulloch 7 Sep 2020
by Adam McCulloch 7 Sep 2020 Image: Shutterstock
Image: Shutterstock

Half of the UK’s workers worry about money at least once a week and most feel unsupported by their employers when it comes to financial wellbeing, according to new data.

According to responses from 250 HR managers and 2,000 employees last month, compiled for wellbeing platform Nudge, 41% of employers agreed that increased financial stress among employees, obviously connected with the Covid-19 crisis, had negatively impacted their business this year – almost three times the 15% who reported experiencing this challenge before 2020.

The study found that seven in 10 employers thought that employees’ financial wellbeing had become more of a priority to them since the pandemic’s onset. But with 66% of employees felt that their organisation provided little or no support for their financial wellbeing with only 8% feeling they could talk openly to their employer about money problems.

Financial wellbeing

Financial wellbeing: why the time to act is now (Nudge webinar)

How can HR help with the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis?

Financial wellbeing and the coronavirus crisis

Good practice guide: Financial wellbeing

However, the data suggested that employers were not indifferent to their workers’ concerns. More than half (53%) said they would like to do more but didn’t know where to start, with most (88%) suggesting their organisation’s senior executives could better support them when it came to promoting the financial wellbeing of their employees. Half of the respondents agreed (44%) that they could achieve this, in part by providing HR with more autonomy to implement solutions.

Jeremy Beament, co-founder of Nudge, said: “There are powerful actions that employers can take right now to help employees feel more in control of their finances, from opening up the conversation about money within the workplace to helping them develop the right skills and knowledge.

“Not only will this improve their general wellbeing, it will enable them to dedicate more time and attention to their job – boosting overall company performance. But these initiatives must be driven from the top. Leadership teams have a responsibility to empower every level of their business and ensure their teams feel supported as we navigate this uncertain period.”

Financial worries have long been linked with performance, productivity and mental health issues with the report finding that employers that report poor financial wellbeing among their teams were eight times more likely to have seen a drop in performance, compared with those reporting good financial wellbeing.

Susanne Jacobs, founder of wellbeing and motivation company The Seven and a specialist in business psychology, added: “When we lack financial security, our brains switch us into threat mode. This diminishes our cognitive performance, increases our error rate and negatively impacts our wellbeing. All-consuming worry can play out in behaviours such as presenteeism, absenteeism, working longer hours and affected sleep and eating patterns.

“With the pandemic amplifying financial concerns, employers need to act now and support their staff to avoid a second epidemic of burnout. Practical tools that help employees improve their skills and knowledge and take better control of their money will pay dividends in health and performance.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Nudge’s report used the example of Vodafone’s financial wellbeing strategy to promote the view that with 88% of employees suggesting they only need enough money to live comfortably, the solution to finance worries did not merely lie in increasing salaries. Educational resources, flexible working arrangements and employee assistance programmes all help ameliorate workers’ concerns around money.

HR Director opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more HR director jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
Cummings ‘unusual’ recruit dismissed after BLM comment
next post
Extend furlough for critical sectors or risk losing skills, says Make UK

You may also like

UK net migration slashed by half in one...

22 May 2025

How neuroscience can unlock employee recognition

22 May 2025

UK universities fret over fall in international students

22 May 2025

HSBC employees warned of office attendance link to...

22 May 2025

The Law Society: Navigating the new world of...

22 May 2025

Workplace stress: Why it’s time to rebrand resilience

22 May 2025

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

Redefining leadership: From competence to inclusion

21 May 2025

Pay awards in real terms could fall for...

21 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+