Payactiv and Hr.com Survey Provide Key Insights on the Current State of Employee Financial Wellness

Balancing the needs of a company and the needs of your employees can be difficult. When it comes to their financial wellness, it’s even harder. But without an accurate knowledge of where your employees stand financially, it’s impossible to make sure they are well-supported. The question stands: Do you know the current state of employee financial wellness?

Employee financial wellness is becoming increasingly important as economic and market uncertainty weighs down on individuals and intensifies workplace stress.

To gain better insights into the current state of employee financial wellness, PayActiv partnered with HR.com to assess HR leaders in an industry-wide survey lasting over a year.

The survey revealed some key insights into how attuned organizations are to their employees' well-being, what benefits and means of financial support are currently in place, and how financial education can have a positive impact on the workforce.

Read on to find out more about the survey results and how businesses can continue to improve their personnel's financial wellness.

Background and Research Methods

To give context, PayActiv is a financial well-being platform providing a suite of services including tips on budgeting and financial planning, as well as emergency financial support. HR.com is a platform for HR professionals to find new resources, exchange ideas, and engage in informed conversations.

PayActiv and HR.com's survey was conducted globally across multiple industries from December 2022 to February 2023.

A total of 235 HR professionals participated in "The State of Employee Financial Wellness 2023" survey, and the organizations they represented varied greatly in size.

Key Findings

• Overall, most of these organizations did not know where their employees stood financially
• A vast majority of these organizations did not offer Earned Wage Access (EWA) or debt relief programs
• Few organizations had plans to implement an employee financial wellness program or counseling
• Despite their previous answers, most HR leaders agreed that financial education and support programs contributed to employee wellness

Comprehension of Employee Financial Wellness

When HR leaders were asked to what degree their organization understood their employees' financial well-being, the survey found that only 11% of the participants had an accurate understanding of it. This pool of organizations had investigated their employee's financial wellness through investigation and other metrics to paint a clear picture of where their employees stood financially.

By contrast, the other 89% of organizations either somewhat understood or knew nothing about their employee's financial status. They based their opinions on minimal data – if any at all.

Keep Reading: How to Survey Your Employees for Your Financial Wellness Program

Employee Financial Wellness Programs and Services

The survey participants were also asked about the programs their organization had in place to help support their employees' financial well-being.

The vast majority of organizations did not have any sort of financial wellness program or service in place for their employees, with only 26% of organizations currently offering some sort of financial assistance. Breaking down that percentage further, 12% of organizations surveyed offer EWA with 3% offering debt-relief benefits.

The remaining organizations (over half) that did not offer some form of financial support (such as EWA) or a financial wellness program were asked why they failed to do so. Of this pool, 45% answered that their organization had other priorities.

Though this percentage is grim, it is worth noting that 23% of organizations lacking a financial wellness initiative would consider implementing a program in the next year and 12% said they would consider doing so in the next five years.

Financial Education and Employee Benefits

Along with lacking financially supportive services, many organizations were found to also be missing an important aspect of their employees' financial well-being: financial education.

According to the survey, 60% of the HR participants said they did not offer any form of financial education programs or initiatives.

While only 40% offered some sort of financial education (20% offered one-on-one financial coaching), nearly all of the organizations agreed (98%) that providing on-site financial support, counseling, and training for employees would improve employee financial wellness.

It is worth noting, however, that a majority of the organizations did offer employer retirement plan contributions (70%), and half offered HRA/HSA contributions for their employees.

Reasons for Establishing Initiatives

All organizations were also asked for their insight into what they thought were the greatest factors in their employees' financial stress. 62% of participants pointed to inflation issues as the primary factor, with interest rates (42%) and insufficient income (40%) also cited.

Organizations that had implemented a financial wellness program were then asked the reasoning behind their initiatives.

While the answers ranged from improving employee mental health (57%) to improving retention (50%), 42% of organizations said that they had done so because it was the ethical thing to do.

Other common answers included improving ROI on benefits programs (19%), becoming an employer of choice (59%), improving morale (38%), and others.

Takeaways

The survey's findings show that while many organizations still lack awareness and programs/initiatives to promote financial wellness, there is a growing interest in implementing financial education and support for employees.

The survey also highlighted the benefits of implementing such measures, with the majority of HR professionals agreeing that financial education and counseling had a powerful impact on overall employee well-being.

If you are worried that your organization is falling behind when it comes to your employees' financial wellness, now is the best time to take a proactive approach and start investing in your employees.

You can implement financial education and support systems through the Enrich Financial Wellness program, providing fully-customized financial education, tools, and support to employers to help their employees get back on track.

1 - https://www.hr.com/en/magazines/all_articles/the-state-of-employee-financial-wellness-2023_lful6xd2.html

2 - https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/payactiv-and-hrcom-survey-provides-key-insights-on-current-state-of-employee-financial-wellness-301786276.html