The average American worries about money six times a day.
So, it’s probably a good bet that many of your employees are at least occasionally fretting over their finances while at work.
These types of concerns are bound to affect employees’ ability to perform their job. A recent PwC survey confirms as much, with close to 20% of more than 3,200 employees saying that their personal financial issues have had “a severe or major impact” on their productivity at work throughout the past year. Another 15% reported that their financial worries have affected their work attendance in the same timeframe.
The same survey finds financial woes taking a toll on employees’ performance in less direct ways as well. For example, 34% of employees indicated that financial stress had severely or majorly impacted their mental health in the past year. Thirty-three percent said their money concerns have affected their sleep, with a similar number of workers saying the same about their sleep (30%), their physical health (23%) and their relationships at home (21%).
Employees have plenty of reasons—rising gas prices, overall inflation, two-plus years of a pandemic—to have money on their minds. Public sector workers are feeling the financial strain, and they have been since well before the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.
Daniel Bryant and Heather Garbers pointed out as much in a recent article they authored for IPMA-HR. In that piece, Bryant and Garbers cited a 2019 study commissioned by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence (SLGE), which found 54% of government employees worried about their finances while at work.
“Feeling anxious over one’s finances is not new,” wrote Bryant and Garbers, the president of retirement and private wealth for Sheridan Road Financial and vice president of voluntary benefits and technology at Hub International, respectively.
“That is has become such an issue for public employees should raise warning flags for everyone, because these individuals play essential roles in keeping society running smoothly.”
Feeling Responsible for Employees’ Financial Health
Of course, COVID-19 has exacerbated financial worries among public sector workers.
“The situation has not improved during a period when state and local governments responded to the economic impact of the pandemic by cutting jobs and freezing salaries. Furloughs and layoffs were widespread, especially in public education,” continued Bryant and Garbers, noting that the American Rescue Plan Act provided relief for some cities, towns and other jurisdictions, but significant spending cuts and/or tax increases were still predicted across all U.S. localities through 2022.
“It should be no surprise that public employees, like their counterparts in business, are seeing their financial stress ratchet up in this environment. Some of the fallout comes in the forms of presenteeism and absenteeism. Communities pay the price, as well.”
Public sector employers can help their employees better manage that stress by offering resources that promote financial wellness.
In fact, a September 2022 survey from Bank of America found 97% of more than 800 employers saying they feel a sense of responsibility for their employees’ financial well-being. And, employees agree with this sentiment, with 82 of the more than 800 employees polled saying employers should play a role in supporting workers’ financial wellness.
There are a number of resources and solution that public sector employers can offer to help employees stay financially fit. In the aforementioned IPMA-HR article, Bryant and Garbers recommended making financial wellness “a shared organizational imperative.”
“It is easy to think in generalities about employees’ likely pain points from a generational perspective,” they wrote. “Young millennials and Gen Z workers are bound to be carrying student loan debt. Gen X employees may be juggling education costs for their kids and eldercare costs for their parents. Identifying effective solutions requires doing more thoughtful analyses.”
Communication is Critical
Segmenting employees and their financial needs according to factors such as life stage and career status, education, lifestyle and goals helps point toward new and expanded benefits employees will use and appreciate, according to Bryant and Garbers.
“Doing this facilitates the delivery of more-individualized solutions that address the financial issues employees worry about the most. And once employees start participating in a financial wellness program, they have the basis for achieving financial goals.”
IPMA-HR can also steer public sector employers toward the type of financial wellness resources designed to help employees reach those goals. In addition to webinars highlighting how public agencies have utilized grants to enhance their financial wellness programs, IPMA-HR offers a collection of resources that touch on aspects of financial well-being ranging from the six financial life stages to summaries of the trends driving financial wellness strategies.
Whatever approach an organization takes to aiding employee financial health, making sure that workers are aware of available resources is critical to driving usage, said Bryant and Garbers.
“People need to know that solutions exist and can be accessed with relative ease. Too often, those messages get lost in the shuffle. This does a disservice to employees because, in most caes, just having a door opened to assistance with financial woes is beneficial all by itself.”
No financial wellness program should be developed “with the hope people will come to it,” they wrote. “Rather, plans must be in place from the beginning to call out the program and its facets to the people at whom it is targeted. Relevant messages should be sent through the channels employees are most likely to access. And those messages should be delivered consistently as part of coordinated efforts to boost participation and ensure people actually receive the relief they need.”
27 October 2022
Category
HR News Article