Today's financial landscape is fraught with challenges: inflation, wage stagnation, and a challenging job market. Financial stress has made its way into the workplace—in more ways than many of us may realize. As Forbes put it:
“As leaders, we must recognize that financial stress is not just a personal problem but a critical business issue that affects productivity and engagement at work. Financially stressed employees are often less motivated and less productive.”
This report answers:
In order to create this report, we sought insights from both the employee and employer side of things to allow for a holistic picture of employee financial wellness and its impact on employee well being, performance and organizational success.
Employee survey: We surveyed 5000 employees who work for businesses just like yours across 8 industries. They’ve shared their biggest financial struggles with us and have made it clear—in no uncertain terms— what you can do to help.
Employer survey: We commissioned a survey of 500 senior U.S. HR professionals about how employees’ financial struggles impact HR’s ability to operate and what impact financial wellness programs have had on their teams.
Below you can find a few highlights from the report. For comprehensive data insights, in-depth analysis, and key takeaways, be sure to download the full report.
It’s safe to say that since the pandemic began in 2020, the financial landscape has been a challenge to navigate for many employees and businesses alike. In this section, we will get into what impact this has had on your employees, their stress levels and ability to bring their best selves to work.
Almost 52% of respondents stated they are stressed about their finances daily or multiple times per day. And, a staggering 20% stating they are “very stressed” about their finances on a daily basis. 40% are at least “stressed” about their finances daily.
Almost half of your team could be dealing with money worries so big that it’s a daily focus—taking up valuable time and energy that could otherwise be spent on work.
You might not recognize some of the telltales of how financial stress impacts your workforce. You might not even believe it's impacting your team. If that's the case, then you're in the minority.
Most HR pros are grappling with the consequences of financial stress. And it's impacting their ability to get things done.
More than half (61%) of HR professionals stated that their employees have been living paycheck to paycheck.
And almost all respondents stated their employees have experienced at least one severe situation due to their finances (homelessness, property repossession, personal bankruptcy, food insecurity, wage garnishment or eviction).
Often when we think of financial stress, it’s easy to think that it is simply a worry, maybe of having too little to spend on discretionary costs.
But, as these results show (and will continue to show), today’s employees are more than a little financially worried, they’re consistently stressed as they are struggling to survive.
In the full report, hear from employees on these questions (and more):
And, from HR pros on questions like:
We know that today’s employees are financially stressed and it’s impacting their personal lives.
But does financial stress impact employee performance, the employee performance management process and organizational success? The short answer is: big time, and this section will show you how.
This finding underscores a critical challenge facing organizations today: the intersection of financial wellness and productivity.
Financial stressors such as: debt burdens, living expenses, and unexpected costs can create distractions, diminish focus, and increase absenteeism in the day to day lives of employees. It’s not just about individuals either—low morale and less engagement can spread across your whole team and organization (more on this below).
It’s clear from both the employer and employee side of things: financial stress impacts performance. Balancing personal finances isn't just a headache at home; it's like a storm cloud hovering over the workplace.
“Stress hacks away at morale. Employees burdened by money matters are nine times more likely to have troubled relationships with coworkers and are twice as likely to be searching for a new job.” - Salary Finance, Inside the Wallets of Working Americans report
In the full report, you’ll find exactly how financial stress is impacting your team performance in ways like:
We know that employees are stressed about their finances and it's impacting their performance at work in more than a few ways. So, where do we go from here?
Businesses are catching up to the fact that they can reduce financial stress and increase performance by financially empowering their employees with financial wellness programs or financial wellness benefits..
Simply, providing employees with resources and tools to manage their finances. This can include access to a financial wellness solution like:
These resources financially empower employees to become more financially literate, manage their money , reduce financial stress, and achieve their financial goals.
A popular employee financial wellness tool for employers is Earned Wage Access or on-demand pay.
EWA allows employees to access their earned wages ahead of payday. Employees can access a percentage of the wages they've already earned whenever they want, interest-free.
In 2023, we asked almost 2500 employees who use ZayZoon’s Earned Wage Access:
Employee financial wellness programs that include EWA address financial stress but are also a benefit that employees are hungry for and desire.
In our employee survey, we asked employees: “should your employer invest in your financial wellness and literacy?”
Here are some of the tangible impacts investment in employee financial wellness programs could have on your team.
We asked HR professionals who offer EWA about its impact on organizational success.
This data makes a compelling case for EWA as a practical solution to increasing the impact of your HR or people operations teams. EWA can bring you closer to the goals you’re already working towards this year like employee retention, talent acquisition and performance management.
Further, by addressing employee financial stress, financial wellness programs with EWA are a critical piece in creating a more adaptable, responsive payroll and operational system that meets the critical wellness needs of today’s employees.
This report will give you a deeper understanding of the financial stress your workers are under and its implications for your team. As it turns out, financial stress impacts your business (and HR team) as much as it does your employees.
As far as takeaways go, this report goes over what you can do right now to help your employees and set your business apart.
Starting with:
If you'd like to speak with a real person to learn more about empowering your employees, financial wellness programs, Earned Wage Access, or how ZayZoon can help alleviate your employees' financial stress, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're always happy to have a conversation.