The cost-of-living crisis continues to put budgetary strains on workforces around the world, but many employees fear voicing their concerns at work. New research shows that staff are more likely to speak openly about money worries when companies have initiatives in place to support financial wellness.
Due to stigma concerns, only 48% of workers in the UK feel comfortable talking about money at work, a report from Bippit, a UK financial coaching company, revealed. For those with financial concerns, 42% said that they did not disclose these worries to their employers because they don’t believe they can help.
The report, Dynamics in Financial Wellbeing: The Stigma Edition 2023, surveyed 5,000 UK employees and 660 senior human resources (HR) directors in May and June.
More leaders than employees believe that sufficient support systems are in place for financial concerns. Eighty-four per cent of HR professionals surveyed said they provide an environment that encourages employees to share money worries, but only 52% of employees agree with that statement, the report found.
Furthermore, only 6% of employees said that they had not used any form of financial support in the last three years, the report said. “This suggests there is a troubling mismatch in the perception or labelling of support from employers, where their people are not considering various initiatives as relevant to financial wellbeing,” the report said.
Worrying daily about money is highly correlated with a reluctance to talk, making this disconnect particularly relevant to those organisations that need to tackle stigma, the report notes. Sixty-five percent of employees who believe they have a good relationship with money say their employer provides an environment that encourages them to share money worries, the report said.
“Right now, organisations across the UK are investing resources to tackle stigma – but it’s not having the impact it deserves,” the report said. “Two things may be at play here: insufficient communication and insufficient focus.”
A global lens
It’s not just UK employees who are feeling the squeeze, according to recent research from PwC, which shows financial concerns are a global problem affecting workforces. “The proportion of workers who say they have money left over at the end of the month declined to 38% this year, from 47% in 2022,” PwC’s report said, with more employees struggling to pay their bills than last year.
PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023 represents the views of 53,912 workers across 46 countries and territories.
This problem has an impact on employee well-being, the report says, which can also affect work performance. Financial stress hurts productivity and engagement. PwC’s research also found that financially stressed employees were nearly five times as likely to say that personal finance issues have been a distraction at work.
“Despite today’s economic uncertainty, a higher percentage of employees say they plan to change jobs in the next 12 months than said so last year (26% versus 19%),” the report said. “And although many people with second jobs cite the opportunity to learn new skills as one reason (36%), they are nearly twice as likely to cite the need to earn more money (69%).”
According to The Stigma Edition 2023 report, employers and leaders must first make talking about money at work more acceptable. The report relays several ways leaders can tackle financial stigma, including using safe spaces, drop-in clinics, and lunch-and-learns to ensure that financial wellness is part of the workplace culture.
“These options will all contribute to the reduction in stigma, providing a clear path to normalise the conversation about money, and they also allow you to target specific areas for improvement,” the report said.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.
