Less than a third of workers (32%) are offered personal finance education as an employee benefit, according to new data.
Financial wellbeing platform Nudge Global released its 2021 global report, Disrupting money habits: why it’s time for organisations to break cycles of exclusion, in order to highlight the opportunity and need for employers to better support employees building financial acumen.
The research found that high earners are 51% more likely to receive finance education from their employer than low earners, and 34% more likely to say their employer is interested in supporting their personal finance goals. This contradicts findings from the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, where low earners are more likely to receive financial education.
More than half (59%) of respondents do not believe their employer is interested in helping them achieve their financial goals and 40% have felt excluded by the industry, as seen by 46% of women feeling left out compared to 34% of men. A total of 38% of white people have felt excluded, rising to 58% of Asians and 63% of people of mixed ethnicity.
In the wake of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) crisis, more than one in three employees (37%) feel anxiety about their financial situation, 25% are ashamed about it and 39% admitting to attaching their self-worth and contentment to what is in their bank account.
Jeremy Beament, co-founder and director, of Nudge Global, explained that there is a real opportunity for employers around the world to address this imbalance and improve the financial knowledge of the workforce more broadly.
“In doing so, they will help resolve feelings of financial exclusion, support social mobility, and create a better employee experience that fosters improved wellbeing. There is clearly an appetite and a need for more robust financial education. Employers are ideally placed to provide this, and are likely to benefit significantly from a happier, more contented and engaged workforce as a result,” he said.