An astounding 86 percent of employees agree it’s important for employers to offer financial wellness programs, according to research by John Hancock.
The time employees spend distracted by their personal finances at work equates to over 47 hours in lost productivity per year. Nearly 20 percent of employees worry about personal finances at work every single day and roughly 60 percent worry about it at least once a week. Financial stress is top of mind for 64 percent of employees.
More than 65 percent of employees believe that employer-sponsored financial wellness programs have an impact on reducing financial stress, 59 percent say such programs improve loyalty and the likelihood they’d recommend their employer and 54 percent say a financial wellness program would increase their job productivity.
All financial wellness programs are not created equally, however, and employees are looking for a specific mix of tools and resources to help them manage their finances and reduce financial stress.
Why Financial Wellness Is Important to Employees in 2021
The vast majority of employees agree it’s important for employers to offer financial wellness programs. Most employees don’t feel knowledgeable enough to determine their overall financial wellness and 62 percent would like their employer to help them.
These are top sources of financial stress that employees believe financial wellness programs could help them with:
- 80 percent of employees aren’t sure if they’re on track for retirement
- 57 percent of employees worry about not having enough emergency savings to cover an unexpected expense
- 23 percent of employees have student loan debt for themselves or others and 60 percent of them have a balance of $20,000 or more
- 20 percent of employees believe their debt is a major problem
Employees are most interested in financial wellness programs that can help them assess their situation, manage debt, balance financial priorities, set goals and create a budget. More than half of workers believe if they were taught how to balance their financial priorities, they would be able to save more for retirement.
How Best Money Moves Can Help
Best Money Moves has it all. It has tools and features that help employees assess their financial situations, budget for monthly expenses, pay down debt, plan for emergencies and save for retirement. Our team of Money Coaches, trained professional financial counselors, are ready to give employees financial guidance whenever they need it. Employees can educate themselves about everything from investing in the stock market to co-signing loans to buying their first homes with access to a growing library of over 700 articles, videos and calculators. We leverage user analytics to create individualized employee content and Best Money Moves is gamified to encourage consistent engagement.
Employee information is always private but employers do have access to key analytics that show overall employee financial stress and stress levels over time. The Employer Dashboard also features information on program usage, debt and savings levels and more so employers can see just how valuable Best Money Moves is to their employees.
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.
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