employee benefits Archives

Financial Stress, Health and Employee Wellness in 2020

by LizStevens | Feb 25, 2020 | Blog

Financial stress, health and employee wellness in 2020. New research highlights the mental and physical effects of financial stress on employees.

Financial planning is the best way to combat financial stress, but many Americans are ignoring the problem and only making matters worse.

Less than a third of Americans have a financial plan in writing, according to research by Charles Schwab. More than 40 percent of them say it’s because they don’t think they have enough money to merit a formal plan, close to 20 percent say it’s too complicated and almost 15 percent say they don’t have enough time to create one.

Financial Stress and Health Statistics for 2020

Financial stress is significantly impacting the lives of Americans. A report by Thriving Wallet, a new partnership between Thrive Global and Discover, found:

90 percent of Americans say that money has an impact on their stress level.
65 percent feel like their financial difficulties are piling up so much they can’t overcome them.
40 percent wish they could have a ‘fresh’ financial start.
40 percent say managing their money on a daily basis limits the extent to which they can enjoy their day-to-day life.
25 percent make purchases they later regret when experiencing significant stress.

Financial stress has a negative effect on individuals’ attitudes towards money and research by Capital One and The Decision Lab found that the more stressed Americans are, the less likely they are to make smart decisions when it comes to spending and saving.

How Financial Stress Impacts Health

It’s bad enough that financial stress skews individuals’ outlooks on finances and impairs their decision making, but its ability to negatively impact immune systems and overall physical health is worse. The same report by Thriving Wallet asked Americans to report negative finance-related impacts on health and found that financial stress effects:

Physical Health (21 percent)
Blood Pressure (17 percent)
Respiratory Symptoms (15 percent)
Somatic Issues (20 percent)
Rates of Tension (25 percent)

Nearly 35 percent of Americans report losing sleep to financial stress, and almost 25 percent of them experience symptoms such as insomnia, broken sleep, fatigue on waking, nightmares and night terrors.

Financial Wellness Programs in 2020

Financial stress costs employers an estimated $250 billion per year in lost productivity and absenteeism.

Over 30 percent of employees don’t have a written financial plan because they think it’s too complicated or they don’t have enough time. Effective financial wellness programs, like Best Money Moves, make it easy for employees to build a financial plan and track their goals.

More than 20 percent of employees told the National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) that they don’t have anyone trusted to turn to for financial guidance. Features like Best Money Moves’ Money Coaches give employees access to trained professional financial counselors who can help them make smarter decisions with their money. Best Money Moves also hosts a library of 700 articles, videos and calculators that employees can use to build their knowledge on everything from investing to co-signing loans to buying their first homes.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company download our whitepapers and sign up for a demonstration here.

More on Financial Stress, Health and Financial Wellness Programs

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Hiring Trends to Watch in 2020

Reduce Financial Stress with This Type of Insurance

Recruiting Trends 2020: Top 5 Features for Financial Wellness Programs

Top 5 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Jobs in 2020

by LizStevens | Jan 29, 2020 | Blog

Top 5 reasons why employees leave their jobs in 2020. It has a lot more to do with professional development than it does compensation.

Opportunities for professional development are vital to job satisfaction and employee retention. Without them, employees will look elsewhere, according to research by CareerAddict.

Their latest report asked employees why they quit their jobs and found that a lack of progression influences their decision most.

CareerAddict’s research is particularly interesting because it found that the top five reasons for quitting a job are the same across all age groups and traditional gender identities.

Top 5 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Jobs in 2020

CareerAddict found a “steady transgenerational pattern” when it came to factors motivating employees to quit. Across all age groups and across all the gender identities they surveyed, there were only marginal differences between their deciding factors. These are the top five reasons for quitting a job, at any age as a man or as a woman:

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What Do Employees Want From HR?

CareerAddict asked employees to elaborate on what they wanted from HR. After analyzing and coding their responses, these are some of the most common requests:

“Ensure work-life balance.”
“Respect confidentiality.”
“Address harassment.”
“Run development trainings.”
“Communicate policies better.”
“Create employee satisfaction surveys.”
“Offer better benefits.”
“Support progression.”
“Compensate based on merit.”
“Ensure supervisors act ethically.”
“Conduct exit interviews.”
“Offer career guidance.”

CareerAddict advises employers who want to retain top talent should, “Place more emphasis on accommodating their staff’s professional growth. Creating more opportunities for career advancement and recognizing and adequately compensating employees’ efforts are just a few actionable initiatives that can significantly improve employee engagement and retention.”

Offering Child Care Benefits to Employees

by LizStevens | Jan 22, 2020 | Blog

Offering child care benefits to employees. Employers can address work-life balance and aid recruitment and retention efforts with child care benefits for employees.

Both parents are employed in more than 60 percent of American families, yet only 6 percent of companies offer child care benefits, according to research by Clutch.

Another study, by New America’s Better Life Lab and Care.com, found that the average annual cost of full-time center-based child care ($9,589) is more expensive than in-state college tuition ($9,410). (And, both costs are rising smartly above the rate of inflation.)

Employers are expanding family-friendly employee benefits to improve work-life balance as well as bolster retention and recruitment efforts and employer-paid child care benefits are a trend to watch in 2020.

The Rising Cost of Child Care

Research by Freddie Mac found the price of child care, adjusted for inflation, has increased by more than 45 percent over the last 25 years and it impacts a family’s ability to afford a home.

“One of the major challenges, when it comes to affording a home, is the high cost of child care. Our analysis finds that those families paying for child care generally are left with less money for housing. Specifically, we find they, on average, pay about half of the median mortgage payment and nearly eighty percent of the median rent,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.

The average family spent more than 10 percent of their annual income on child care in 2011. In lower-income families, the cost burden of child care is much higher. Families making less than $1,500 a month with children under the age of 15 spent 40 percent of their income on child care, on average.

Offering Child Care Benefits to Employees

New parent benefits have seen significant growth over the past five years, but child care benefits have failed to keep pace. According to research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM):

25 percent of employers let employees bring children to work in an emergency
11 percent of employers have a child care referral service
4 percent of employers offer subsidized or nonsubsidized child care centers or programs

As an emerging trend, there isn’t a wealth of data on the ROI of child care benefits, but initial research published in the Journal of Management found companies that introduced child care benefits had lower collective turnover rates for female employees in subsequent years.

In the next few years, we expect to see the number of companies offering child care benefits rise as employers battle for top talent with better benefits.

Top 3 Hiring Trends for 2020

by LizStevens | Dec 18, 2019 | Blog

Top 3 hiring trends for 2020. How employers are planning to expand recruitment efforts to attract and retain the right talent in a tight labor market.

Employers are ready to pay up to combat the skills shortage in the new year.

More than 80 percent of employers are ready to offer higher salaries for sought-after candidates and give pay raises to ensure their current staff is happy, according to the third-annual hiring trends report by Hays, a global recruitment firm.

“It’s encouraging to see such employer confidence and motivation in the face of market uncertainty but they should consider that money on its own may not be the long-term solution to skill deficits and employee dissatisfaction,” said David Brown, CEO, Hays US.

Top 3 Hiring Trends for 2020

Hays drew from a national survey of more than 3,500 employers and employees across the U.S. for their latest report. Their findings identified three major hiring trends for 2020:

1. More Flexibility

Nearly 35 percent of employers offer no flexible work options, but that percentage is likely to drop in the next year. More than 50 percent of employers are working on adding the ability to work remotely. Almost 40 percent are investing in flexible work hours.

Hays notes that unlimited vacation time and free childcare are also growing in popularity, but are implemented on more of a case-by-case basis.

2. Career Development

Over 20 percent of employees are considering leaving their current role because of limited opportunities for career growth.

“It’s an incredibly competitive job market and employers have to focus on bigger picture aspects of work if they want to achieve their business goals,” added Brown. “People expect to do more than punch a clock. They’re looking for meaning, a vibrant culture and to be united with their colleagues under a shared purpose. Employers who understand this fact will be better-suited in the 2020 fight for talent while nurturing their current team.”

3. Health and Wellness Focus

Close to 60 percent of workers say they have no health and wellness activities through work. Providing healthy snacks and space where employees can rest and reset on their breaks is investing in the health and wellbeing of employees.

Employers can also remind employees when it’s time to get flu shots, when open enrollment starts, and have someone available to review healthcare benefits and out-of-pocket costs to help them better understand changes each year.

If you’re not convinced that sending a reminder can make a difference, read about how a reminder the IRS sent out to those who paid a fine for failing to have health insurance may have saved 700 lives.

More on Recruitment and Hiring Trends for 2020

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Top 10 Employee Benefits for 2020

5 Must-Have Benefits for Millennial Employees

Hiring Trends to Watch in 2020

4 Big Employee Benefit Trends for Family Planning

Employee Experience 2020: 4 Key Aspects for High-Performance

Recruiting Trends 2020: Top 5 Features for Financial Wellness Programs

Health and Wellness Benefits Insights for 2020

by LizStevens | Dec 11, 2019 | Blog

Health and wellness benefits insights for 2020. Where employee benefits are missing the mark and how employers can reduce work-related stress.

Aetna’s Business of Health 2020 report looks at some of the greatest challenges employers face maintaining a healthy workforce and improving business performance.

Their first key finding is that health and wellness benefits are missing the mark.

Seventy percent of employers believe they provide good health and wellness benefits, but less than 25 percent of their workers agree.

Health and Wellness Benefits Disconnect

A part of the health and wellness benefits disconnect between employers and employees could be explained by uncertainty. Nearly 40 percent of employers are unsure about what employees want from their benefits package and over 40 percent are concerned about the cost implications of employee health and wellness.

Communicating directly with employees to find out what health and wellness benefits they need most can help employers and employees get on the same page about benefits goals. This could be achieved through company-wide surveys, focus groups or direct benefits conversations with workers. Setting a firm budget for health and wellness benefits can ease employer concerns about program costs.

Health and Wellness Benefits Insights for 2020

Employee stress is a huge threat to the well-being of employees, so much so that employers agree it’s the most challenging occupational health issue facing corporations worldwide, second only to viral illnesses like the flu.

Nearly 50 percent of the global workforce feels stressed because of work and 80 percent of employees rated their company’s support for stress as adequate or poor. Of the almost 60 percent of employees who don’t get enough sleep, close to 35 percent blame job stress for keeping them up at night.

Reducing Work-Related Employee Stress

Only 25 percent of the HR Directors that Aetna interviewed believed that they offer good support for those who are stressed at work.

What can employers do to reduce work-related employee stress? Encouraging the use of sick days and having flexible working hours could help. More than 70 percent of employers don’t think employees take enough sick days. Less than 15 percent of HR Directors believe that flexible working policies have a positive impact on employee retention, but flexible working hours are the most popular workforce policies requested by employees.

Employers have another opportunity to reduce work-related employee stress by supporting mental health in the workplace. More than 80 percent of employees are concerned that a mental health issue could one day affect their ability to work. Over 40 percent of employers say their company offers good support for mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, but only 25 percent of workers agree.

Mental health is becoming an important factor for recruitment as well. Nearly 70 percent of employees said they wouldn’t join a business that did not have a clear policy on supporting those with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.