Four Ways to Help Reduce Financial Stress for Your Employees

June 09, 2020

Employee financial stress is a hot topic. So much so, that nearly 60% of employees cite finances as their primary stressor.¹Their financial worries surpass other top stressors, and it’s impacting their job performance.

Research shows financially stressed employees are less productive and more distracted at work. They also have higher rates of absenteeism and presenteeism (at work but not fully functioning). Employees typically spend more than three hours a week dealing with their personal finances at work and they lose nearly a month of productive work time (21-31 days a year) due to financial worries.²

Employers simply can’t afford to ignore employees’ financial stress. Lost productivity due to financial stress costs American businesses $500 billion annually — around 2.5% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).³

The good news is that many employees want help dealing with their financial strain — and they appreciate their employer's help.

As an employer, you’re in a unique position to positively impact your employees’ lives by helping them reduce their financial stress. Here are four ways you can help:

1) Emphasize financial wellness: Research shows that financial wellness benefits, when properly structured and executed, reduces employee stress, improves retention, boost productivity, and improves a company’s ability to recruit and retain top talent. Nearly three quarters (74%) of employees believe financial wellness is an important benefit, and 60% are more likely to stay with an employer that offers a program to help them manage their money.⁴

Financial wellness programs are designed to help relieve employee stress and anxiety by helping them successfully manage their day-to-day finances, prepare for unexpected expenses, and save for the future. To create an effective financial wellness program, you’ll first need to understand individual employee concerns. Anonymous surveys are a good way to gather this information so you can tailor the program to their needs.

Keep in mind, however, financial wellness is not one-size-fits-all. Every employee situation is different requiring different solutions and levels of attention.

2) Bring in experts: Financial wellness programs can help boost your employees’ fiscal health and reduce their financial stress over the long term. However, some may have issues that need to be addressed immediately to minimize their financial stress. In fact, 31% of employees want individualized advice about their money concerns.⁵ Giving employees the opportunity to meet with an expert, like a financial advisor, can pay dividends when it comes to helping them manage financial stress related to common concerns such as repairing bad credit, budgeting and saving, medical bills and retirement planning.

3) Encourage employee engagement: Actively engaging employees in your financial wellness program can reduce their money-related stressors. Since improving financial security is based on behavior changes, your financial wellness program should be inspiring. Implementing milestones and quick wins — such as creating a budget or canceling an unused subscription service and allocating the savings toward paying off debt — can help keep employees motivated and accountable. The program should also be easily accessible, which helps remove barriers to success. Consider a financial wellness program with online tools that are available from any computer or mobile device — where employees spend most of their time anyway.

4) Help employees save more for retirement: Nearly 60% of employees say they’re stressed about saving for retirement.⁶ Employers can help mitigate that stress by encouraging employees to take advantage of their retirement plan’s tax benefits and any employer matching contributions. It’s a great way to support lifelong savings behaviors and improve retirement readiness.

When thinking of ways to positively impact your employees' financial and mental health, keep these four strategies in mind. Although financial stress is on the rise, you can play an important role by offering benefits that help your employees improve their financial stability and well-being.

Selecting and implementing the right financial wellness program for your employees can be challenging. We can help you design the appropriate program for reducing your employees’ stress and provide them more financial flexibility. Give us a call to learn more.

¹PwC. “8th Annual Employee Financial Wellness Survey.” June 2019.
²Salary Finance. The Employers Guide to Financial Wellness. 2019.
³Salary Finance. The Employers Guide to Financial Wellness. 2019.
⁴Financial Health Network/Morgan Stanley. Better for Employees, Better for Business: The Case for Employers to Invest in Employee Financial Health. May 2019.
⁵PwC. “8th Annual Employee Financial Wellness Survey.” June 2019.
⁶Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Retirement Confidence Survey. 2019.

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¹Barron’s 2024 Top 100 RIA Firms. Barron's© magazine is a trademark of Dow Jones L.P. The ranking of independent advisory companies is based on assets managed by the firms, growth, technology spending, succession planning, and other metrics.

² Retention Rate Source: Allworth Internal Data, FY 2022

³ The NBRI Circle of Excellence Award is bestowed upon NBRI clients meeting one or both of the following criteria: Total Company score at or above the 75th percentile of the NBRI ClearPath Benchmarking Database and/or improvement of five (5) or more benchmarking percentiles in Total Company score over the previous survey.

⁴ As of 7/1/2024, Allworth Financial, an SEC registered investment adviser and AW Securities, a registered broker/dealer have approximately $22.5 billion in total assets under management and administration.

⁵ InvestmentNews 2020 and 2021 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers. The ranking reflects survey responses and scores completed by both employers and employees. Employers report their organization’s workplace policies, practices, and demographics. Employees complete a survey designed to measure the employee experience.

⁶ 2021 Value of an Advisor Study / Russel Investments

⁷ Ranked 9th Top Wealth Managers By Growth in Assets in the U.S. from RIA Channel, 2022. RIA Database and RIA Channel are registered trademarks owned by Labworks, LLC.

⁸USA Today Best Financial Advisory Firms 2024. The ranking is based on the growth of the companies’ assets under management (AUM) over the short and long term and the number of recommendations they received from clients and peers.

⁹NBRI Best in Class Ethics 2023. The Best in Class level is bestowed upon clients performing at or above 90 percentile of the NBRI ClearPath Benchmarking Database.

^✢ Scott Hanson, Investment Advisor 2005, 25 most influential people in the financial services industry. The ranking reflects 25 people who Investment Advisor magazine believes have had or will have the greatest influence on the financial services industry.

^✼Pat McClain, InvestmentNews 2014, Invest in Others Community Service Award, presented to an advisor who has made an outstanding impact on a community through managerial contributions to a non-profit organization.

^†Financial Times, FT 300 Top Registered Investment Advisers, June 2019. The ranking reflects six areas of consideration including the company's years in existence, industry certifications of key employees, AUM, asset growth, SEC compliance record and online accessibility and calculates a numeric score for each company.

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CFP® (with plaque design) and CFP® (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board's initial and ongoing certification requirements.