Financial Stress Takes a Toll on Workers: How Employers Can Help

Published April 02, 2025

Financial Challenges Like Emergency Expenses and Basic Living Costs Impact Worker Performance

For Immediate Release | April 2, 2025 

Brookfield, Wisconsin—April 2 is National Employee Benefits Day, celebrated annually to recognize those working in employee benefits and the important role they play in their colleagues’ well-being. The 2025 theme is Future-Ready Financial Well-Being: Empowering Employees and Organizations Today, for Tomorrow. To recognize the importance of this topic, the International Foundation is sharing a preview of data from the soon-to-be- released report, Workplace Wellness and Financial Education: 2025 Survey Report.

The report reveals details about current initiatives and insights into the changing needs of employees as well as the growing importance of wellbeing and financial stability, covering personal factors impacted by financial challenges, impact on work performance and solutions through financial education.

Financial struggles have a direct impact on employees’ mental health and job performance. Survey results indicate that the following personal factors are most impacted by financial challenges.

  • 62%—Mental health
  • 42%—Presenteeism/inability to focus on work
  • 35%—Morale
  • 29%—Absenteeism/tardiness
  • 27%—Physical health

Organizations report that the following types of financial challenges have the largest impact on employee performance.

  • 46%—Covering an emergency expense (down from 61% in 2022)
  • 41%—Covering basic living expenses (up from 32% in 2022)
  • 40%—Credit cards and other debt (up slightly from 39% in 2022)
  • 37%—Trouble saving for retirement (down from 44% in 2022)
  • 36%—Paying medical expenses (down from 38% in 2022)
  • 25%—Paying off personal student loan debt (down from 35% in 2022)

“Personal finances can be a large source of stress for many people. Money is a highly personal issue, making it challenging for employers to know what issues to address and how to provide effective education,” said Julie Stich, CEBS, Vice President of Content at the International Foundation. “The survey data indicates that prioritizing financial wellness initiatives can not only help improve employees’ personal finances but can also improve worker performance by reducing finance-related stressors.”

Financial Education

Ninety percent of responding organizations recognize that they are responsible for some financial education for employees, with 43% focusing on education for pensions and benefits, encouraging saving for retirement and helping employees become financially literate. Survey data reveals why and how organizations are offering financial education for their employees.

Reasons for providing financial education include the following.

  • 61%—Increasing workers’ ability to manage their money
  • 60%— Improving workers’ retirement/investment decisions
  • 54%—Improving understanding of current benefits
  • 46%—Improving satisfaction/appreciation of current benefits
  • 43%—Reducing workers’ financial stress to increase job focus
  • 37%—Increasing workers’ savings rates

Responding organizations indicated employers’ top methods of delivering financial education include employee assistance programs (EAPs) (45%), plan administrators (43%), investment managers/providers (34%) and financial planners (32%).

The most significant obstacles organizations face in providing financial education include lack of time and resources (40%), lack of interest among workers (39%) and the difficulty of reaching workers across multiple locations and shifts (28%).

“Employers’ capacity to provide financial education varies, but the data shows that offering even limited support and resources at the start of a program can help employee morale and performance. This is especially true for initiatives aimed at providing immediate support and relief,” said Stich. 

For more information on Workplace Wellness and Financial Education: 2025 Survey Report, visit www.ifebp.org/research in the coming weeks for full survey data.  Find more information about National Employee Benefits Day, including further resources for employers, at www.ifebp.org/BenefitsDay

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The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans is the premier educational organization dedicated to providing the diverse employee benefits community with objective, solution-oriented education, research and information to ensure the health and financial security of plan beneficiaries worldwide. The Foundation has more than 31,000 multiemployer, corporate and public sector members representing over 25 million lives. For additional information, visit www.ifebp.org.  The Wellness Alliance is an affiliate of the International Foundation, learn more at www.wellnessalliance.org

Members of the media can obtain a complimentary copy of the report by contacting [email protected].