Employees spend 25% of their workday worrying about money

Employees are on shaky ground when it comes to their finances.

A new survey by financial services provider SoFi at Work and HR research advisory Workplace Intelligence found that 51% of employees are more stressed about their finances today than they were during the height of the pandemic, and spend around 25% of their workweek dealing with financial issues.

The top sources of financial stress for employees include not having enough money for retirement, dealing with credit card debt, and struggling to pay for basic expenses like rent, mortgage or food, the survey found. And while 80% of HR leaders say they want to do more to help employees, 45% of employees say they feel their company is not concerned about addressing these stressors.

Read more: Give employees a helping hand when it comes to their financial needs

“Offering financial well-being benefits isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s also a critical way to boost employee engagement and productivity,” Dan Schawbel, managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, said in a release. “But people’s preferences are quickly evolving, and the companies who can adapt quickly are the ones that will come out on top in the war for talent.”

The impact is having both short- and long-term effects on an employee’s well-being — 86% of employees say their financial stress impacts their productivity, and 84% say it affects their job satisfaction. Eighty percent say financial challenges have a negative impact on their mental and physical health.

In the long-term, more than a third of employees plan to push back their retirement dates by six years in an attempt to be more financially stable. However, some employees are motivated to take control now: around 40% of employees want to prioritize retirement savings in 2022, the report found.

Read more: If you cashed out your retirement plan during COVID, here’s how to rebuild

But employees don’t think they can do it alone: half of survey respondents admitted they don’t know what to do to make progress on their financial goals, SoFi at Work found. And while 98% of HR leaders feel it’s their responsibility to help employees improve their financial picture, just 49% of employees feel they’ve learned about finances from the benefits employers provide.

“The simple fact is, the more you save and put away will offset the loss that you endured during the pandemic,” says Denny Artache, a certified financial planner who notes that employers need to improve financial education around basic concepts like budgeting and emergency funds.. “The problem is, it’s not a quick fix. Like diet and exercise, you have to systematically cut back your spending, have a budget and track it.”

SoFi at Work found that 64% of employees would like an employer-provided emergency savings fund benefit, and 64% would like a 401(k) match program to help support their financial needs. Sixty-two percent would like more education around personal finance and budgeting.

Artache recommends employers bring in a third-party to provide financial education, through lunch-and-learns and other engagement strategies. A financial planner can help employees prioritize and set up a plan beyond just addressing their immediate financial need.

“You have to look at the big picture: your investments, your health, your mental fitness,” he says. “If you don’t, you’ll tend to want to take shortcuts instead of doing what you really need to do to reach your goals.”