Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents view employees’ financial wellness as an employer’s responsibility, according to research by mobile employee engagement platform LifeWorks.
Its survey of 400 US-based HR professionals also found that 37% of respondents feel that executive leaders within their organisation are addressing financial wellness.
The research also found:
- 88% of respondents see financial wellness as equally important to an individual’s overall wellbeing as their physical or mental health.
- 79% of respondents agree that a financially well employee is more productive.
- 44% of respondents said they were aware of which employees struggled financially.
- 45% of respondents admit that the majority of employees in their organisation would be unable to meet financial commitments if pay was delayed by just one week.
- 19% of respondents report that the executive teams within their organisations have pledged to increase financial wellness tools and programmes in the workplace.
Jamie True, chief executive officer at LifeWorks, said: “With only 8% of our respondents saying they are trained to understand the signs and symptoms of emotional financial distress, [organisations] simply are not doing enough to tackle this growing problem at its source.
“Employers need to be vigilant and recognise the symptoms of financial distress before it impacts negatively on the bottom line, and this requires more training for HR managers so they can better leverage financial wellness programmes and develop stronger strategies for managing employee stress.”