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Financial Stress Takes Toll at Work

Industry Trends and Research

A new survey claims that American businesses are losing $500 billion per year due to employees' personal financial stress.

That survey of more than 10,000 Americans by Salary Finance (a provider of financial education and salary-linked savings and loans for employees) finds that nearly one in two US employees are worried about money, leading to depression, panic attacks, sleepless nights and distractions at work – all of which they claim yields losses in productivity that comprises 2.5% of the US GDP.

It’s not everyone, of course – but 48% of all employees are worried about finances, according to the report. Oddly, the report finds that financial worries decrease as seniority increases until the department head level, then increase back to early career anxieties at the C-level.

Income is not an indicator of financial wellness. According to the survey, a third (34%) of US workers have no savings and regularly live paycheck-to-paycheck – and one in four of these earns more than $160,000. Approximately 40% of people making more than $100,000 per year are what the report’s authors term “financially unstable,” with less than three months' savings.

The report claims that financially stressed employees lose nearly one month (23–31 days) of productive work days per year and are 2.2 times more likely to seek a new job opportunity. Lost productivity, turnover and other factors directly related to poor financial wellness cost the average company between 11% and 14% of their total payroll expense, according to the report.

Additionally, the report claims that employees with money worries are:

  • 3.4 times more likely to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and 4 times more likely to suffer from depression;
  • 5.8 times more likely not to be able to finish daily tasks and 4.9 times more likely to have lower work quality;
  • 8 times more likely to have sleepless nights; and
  • 4.5 times more likely to have poor relationships with colleagues.

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