One in two employees want financial wellbeing assistance from employers
One in two (58%) employees state they want their employers to provide financial wellbeing tools, but only 14 percent of employers currently provide them, according to Map My Plan, a fintech firm which improves the financial fitness of Australians.
In its Financial Stress in the Australian Workplace (the Insight Paper), released today, Map My Plan revealed 68 percent of managers believe financial wellbeing of their staff is ‘absolutely vital or important’ but 60 percent have no financial program.
Paul Feeney, Founder of Map My Plan said, “We’ve found one in two employees are likely to be financially stressed, and it’s impacting their productivity, engagement, sleep, and even their mental and physical health.”
“We’re seeing that managers recognise that financial wellbeing is very important to employees, but there is a lack of access to suitable programs or resources that prevents them from helping with this issue. There’s such a big opportunity for employers to be implementing cost effective, simple solutions to offer assistance in this area to their staff.”
The Insight Paper revealed that 38 percent of employers have no plans to offer financial wellbeing tools to their employees, even though 58 percent of their employees are crying out for such help – 68 percent see it as important or vital.
“The research tells us that most employees want assistance from their employers to address financial stress, but over a third of employers are not intending to provide support in this way – it’s a missed opportunity to attract and retain employees, increase productivity and support better mental and physical health.”
Financial stress, Mr Feeney said, has significant impact on absenteeism, team morale, talent retention, collaboration, innovation and customer experience which all leads to a measurable impact on the bottom line.
Mr Feeney said, “We’ve previously estimated that financially stressed, distracted, unproductive employees are costing Australian employers around $55.2 billion every year in lost working time.[1] This is equivalent to an average lost salary of $4,613 per employee. By not incorporating this vital support into a business, it’s having a significant impact on Australian workplaces.”
Map My Plan currently works with a range of businesses, particularly corporates, to improve the financial fitness of all Australians, by making sure professional financial advice is available to everyone.
