According to a 2017 report published by Neyber, financial stress costs the UK economy £121 billion and 18 million working hours in time off work each year. Along with those staggering figures, they also reported that 33% of employees consider financial worries as their biggest concern, before their health and work-life balance.
Research also carried out by Willis Towers Watson, presented the extent to which financial stress impacted the efficiency of the workplace in 2017. The research findings showed that 34% of employees reported financial concerns impacted their productivity. The survey also showed that of the 1,500 employees questioned, 35% contributed their financial concerns to stress.
From the research carried out, it is clear that anxiety about financial worries leads to poorer mental, physical and social wellbeing, which in turn, can affect attendance and performance at work. Because of this, it is in the employer’s best interest to take financial wellbeing seriously and provide support in this area as part of their wellbeing strategy. By identifying those who are vulnerable amongst their workforce and offering financial support, an employer could help reduce stress and prevent absenteeism in the workplace, thus improving staff efficiency.
Financial stress can keep employees up at night, resulting in the most common symptom, fatigue. According to a 2017 report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 19% of employees lost sleep worrying about their finances, causing disrupted sleep patterns and contributing to lower employee productivity.
An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a significant staff benefit and can assist those at risk of falling into debt or struggling with their finances. Many EAPs offer debt counselling or support services that prove beneficial to employees suffering with financial stress. However, along with providing staff with the service, it is important for employers to regularly remind employees about the specific services available from the EAP and how it can help them.
There are various incentives for employers provide an EAP for their workforce, one of the most critical benefits is that it saves the businesses money. With fewer days lost to stress-related sickness and reducing recruitment costs by improving staff retention, an EAP is a proven tool for a business to save costs. In fact, evidence shows that providing an EAP reduces absence by 34%.
A relaxed and financially confident workforce is less likely to take recurring, unexplained absences – meaning businesses have fewer days where employees are less productive. Thanks to the easily accessible support provided by an EAP, staff members are given the tools to obtain the financial guidance they need.
By facilitating financial support to staff members through an EAP, employees can create a stronger and more productive working environment, in fact, it’s been proven than an EAP can improve a business’s productivity by 22%. Through the use of an EAP, businesses can help employees through their anxiety and improve their financial outlook. By doing this, it gives a business an opportunity to show employees how much they value them, which in turn, gets the business back into a stronger position.
From time to time, everyone needs help and support. Whether it concerns work-related issues, personal struggles or financial stress, an EAP provides the platform to assist an employee during a time of financial hardship and any other issues they may be experiencing.
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
