Who wants to admit they’re hard up?

Who wants to admit they’re hard up?

A survey among more than 2,000 UK employees by YuLife found that 80% are worried about stress as a result of their financial worries. Similarly, 80% feel it’s having an effect on their performance.

The stress is being made worse by a mismatch in expectations between employers and their people. 49% of employees surveyed believed that it was their employer’s responsibility to help support and improve their financial wellbeing. But only 21% said they would be comfortable in actually opening up and talking about their financial stresses. 24% claimed it wasn’t clear about the support on offer from their organisation.

Financial aid

YuLife CEO Sammy Rubin said: “The almost-universal nature of money worries means that employers have a responsibility to support their employees’ financial wellbeing with additional benefits and insurance products as well as creating help and awareness to suit their financial needs.”

With the cost of living crisis beginning to be felt by more households, more employers are looking to provide practical advice.

Halfords, the motoring and cycling services and products company, has introduced access to a financial planning app. In this way its 10,000 staff have an easy way to get information on their finances and how to budget and control their wages. The business also provides a flexible pay cycle so that employees can draw on money earned in a month before pay day.

EAP ROI

“Advice on financial planning is an essential in our context of rising bills — particularly when the full implications of inflation are yet to be seen and felt,” says EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell.

“But often that’s just the first stage. It’s when people realise they have a problem that the cycle of stress and the negative impacts on their work begins. Employees need a way of managing both their finances and the stress that’s involved.

“It can be just as difficult to talk to a manager or colleagues about a money worry as it is about mental health — perhaps worse, as we live in a culture where financial wealth is still seen as an indication of being ‘successful’. So anxieties just spiral and grow.

“This is another way in which the professional and confidential guidance of an EAP, both in terms of advice content and in speaking with a human being, is so important.”

Who wants to admit they’re hard up? EAPA UK