Of course supporting employees with money worries is the right thing to do.
But if I were making the case to an employer, I would not stop there.
Money worries do not remain neatly at home when somebody starts work. An employee may be physically present while part of their attention is still dealing with the mortgage payment, a childcare bill, an unexpected repair or the question of how they will make it to payday.
They may say nothing. They may look completely fine. But financial pressure takes up headspace, and that can affect how somebody feels and functions during the working day.
That makes financial wellbeing a people issue and a business issue.
Money worries follow people into work
I have spent more than 25 years working in financial services and now speak to people through financial education and coaching. One thing I have learned is that a money worry is rarely just a number.
It can bring fear, shame, distraction and a constant feeling that something needs to be fixed. When the problem is unresolved, the mind keeps returning to it.
A 2024 systematic review published in Human Resource Management Review brought together 136 empirical studies from the previous two decades. The authors found that employee financial stress was associated with poorer health, lower organisational commitment and weaker performance, as well as greater conflict between work and family life.
The word associated matters here. This evidence does not prove that every workplace financial wellbeing programme will produce a particular return.
Employers should be wary of anybody offering a neat productivity figure or promising a guaranteed return for every euro spent. But the overall pattern is still difficult to dismiss: financial pressure can interfere with working life.
People work better when they feel looked after
I have always found that when people feel genuinely looked after in a workplace, they tend to work better.
A meta-analysis drawing on 558 studies examined perceived organisational support: whether employees believe their organisation values their contribution and cares about their wellbeing. The analysis found that this perception was linked with how employees felt about their organisation and their work, as well as with employee performance and wellbeing.
That does not mean support should be transactional. Employees are not machines, and wellbeing should never amount to: “We helped you, so now you owe us more output.”
The employee benefits. The organisation can benefit too.
A budgeting webinar cannot solve every problem
A budgeting webinar will not fix low pay, insecure hours, unaffordable housing or high childcare costs. Financial education should never be used to suggest that structural problems are simply the result of employees making poor choices.
What employers can do is make it easier for employees to understand the financial parts of working life and use the support already available to them.
- clear explanations of pay, pensions and workplace benefits;
- education built around real decisions and life stages;
- emergency or hardship supports where the organisation can provide them;
- access to trusted help before a difficulty becomes a crisis;
- time during the working day to learn and take practical action; and
- a clear distinction between financial education and a product-sales process.
The employer may already be paying for benefits people do not understand
Many organisations already invest significantly in pensions, insurance, employee assistance programmes and other benefits. But a benefit that exists on paper is not necessarily a benefit an employee understands or knows how to use.
Good financial education helps connect the benefit to real life.
Measure what can be measured honestly
Financial wellbeing should be evaluated, but the measures need to be realistic. An employer can look at participation, employee feedback, changes in understanding, use of existing benefits and whether employees take an appropriate next step after a session.
What an employer should not do is promise that one workshop will remove financial stress or turn every participant into a more productive employee.
A genuine win-win
Workplace financial wellbeing is sometimes treated as a soft extra: something kind to offer when the wellbeing calendar has space. I think that misses the point.
Employees who feel supported are better placed to bring their attention and energy to their work. Employers have an opportunity to build trust, strengthen employees’ connection with the organisation and make existing benefits work harder.
Supporting employees is the right thing to do. It can also make good business sense.
That is the win-win.
Sources
For workplace programmes and employer partnerships, see Money, Just For Her at work.