Last year, more than a third (36%) of UK employees admitted to having financial worries, according to a report by Salary Finance. These concerns often led to sleepless nights, trouble finishing daily tasks and troubled relationships with work colleagues.
When it comes to supporting employees with their financial wellbeing, many organisations’ programmes focus on those who are ‘planners’ – people who find it easy to save and budget – rather than the ‘copers’ who tend to spend first and worry later. Given that there are strong links between financial worries and poor mental health, it’s crucial to ensure all employees are supported.
Supporting employees to better manage their finances can mitigate some of the risks linked with money-related stress. Those with no financial issues tend to have higher job satisfaction and those with money worries are 1.5 times more likely to be looking for another job.
Salary Finance’s report, The Employer’s Guide to Financial Wellbeing 2019-2020, examines the impact of poor financial wellbeing, the typical behaviours of planners and copers, and the impact of the relationship between employer and employee. It also provides six practical tips for implementing a financial wellbeing programme.
Understanding more about how your workforce saves, spends and borrows can help, as can acknowledging how their varying life stages impact their finances.
The research found that employees worry more about money than they do about relationships, their career and their health, with women more likely to have financial stress than men.
Download the Salary Finance research to discover out how to help employees:
- Improve their credit score and avoid high-cost borrowing
- Become more like ‘planners’ by taking the thinking out of saving
- Manage their money day to day and become more confident about finance.
