It’s well understood that money is the leading cause of stress. According to CNBC, more than a third of all people indicated that financial concerns were the biggest issue in their relationships. Only 25% chose the second leading concern; annoying habits, so make of that what you will.
Often when we consider stress at work, we are thinking of its direct causes, such as an overload of tasks, poor managers or a lack of communication. But what about indirect causes of stress; with symptoms like a lack of engagement, lethargy and a general feeling of dissatisfaction? After all, there is no reason to think of our relationship with our job as any different than other relationship. And do we not spend more time at our work than in any other activity?
It should really come as no surprise then that financial stress plays such a big role in causing work-related issues. PwC recently found that 54% of employees indicated that finances are their biggest stressor at work. Employees with increased financial stress are nearly four times as likely to admit that their finances are a distraction at work. They’re also more likely to be attracted to other companies that care more about their financial well-being.
The real question then is, what can we as HR professionals do to help address this problem? After all, with traditional work-related stressors, HR offers support, such as workload management, manager training or improvements to communications processes. What can they do about financial stress?
To help mitigate employees’ financial stress, providing the right resources to help employees understand their money goals and giving them the tools they need to achieve these goals requires financial education and support. Enabling employees to meet their short-term goals, such as paying the bills, as well as their long-term objectives like saving for a home or retirement can help relieve this stress. It really is no different than any other type of wellness. It’s all a matter of helping people find out where they currently stand, where they want to be and how to get there, the same as with dietary, fitness or productivity goals.
To learn more about this, join me and Neha Mirchandani, CMO and Head of People of BrightPlan as we discuss how to develop and implement a powerful and highly impactful wellness program. We would love to hear your questions live, and you can also email me at [email protected] any time with your questions regarding this or any HR topics.
Hope to be seeing you soon!
