Concerns and stress about personal finances are distracting American employees during working hours, impacting their job performance and potentially sapping company productivity, according to a new survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
In the 2014 SHRM survey, Financial Wellness in the Workplace, HR professionals with the title of assistant director and above across a range of U.S. businesses and not-for-profit organizations specified the breadth of financial challenges employees and companies are facing.
- Seven out of 10 indicated that personal financial challenges have a large or some impact on their employees’ performance.
- More than 40% said an overall lack of funds to cover personal expenses is impacting employees in their companies.
- Almost 40% of employees are facing more personal finance challenges now compared with the onset of the recession in 2007.
- Nearly 25% of HR professionals said employees are experiencing more personal finance challenges now compared with 12 months ago.
- The survey found a potentially alarming concern that employees were more likely to request a loan from retirement savings (60%) or a hardship withdrawal (44%) from retirement savings during the past 12 months compared with previous years.
While some companies provide their employees with “financial wellness” education programs, a number of them experience challenges in doing so. One reason: they are often seen as too costly.
“With the influence that financial challenges have on employees and their performance, the survey suggests that employers will find value in offering financial education to their workforce,” said Bruce Elliott, SHRM’s manager of compensation and benefits.
HR professionals who took part in the survey saw baby boomers (70%) and generation X (53%) as the generations most likely to participate in financial education programs. Furthermore, boomers are most interested in retirement planning (77%) and gen X in financial investment planning (44%).
Related articles: