Dive Brief:
- Eight in 10 employees say employers should provide access to opportunities that help them succeed, according to a new survey from Prudential Financial Inc.
- The second American Workers Survey found that workers want employers to offer financial products, health and wellness programs, job training programs and financial education. Topics employees most wanted to learn about were retirement savings and planning, building emergency savings, budget management and identity protection.
- Millennials and young workers said student debt was the biggest barrier to their financial prosperity, and baby boomers and Gen Xers said slow wage growth was their biggest barrier, according to Prudential.
Dive Insight:
Financial wellbeing and education are important to employees, as several recent reports show. But a 2017 Willis Towers Watson study found that workers' financial well-being was down significantly after steadily climbing during previous years. Decades of stagnant wages and tremendous student debt threaten employees' financial security.
Given these circumstances, financial wellness is more critical now than ever, as personal financial struggles are frequently cited as a distraction from work. When workers are stressed out over financial problems, employers can expect productivity decreases and frequent absences.
As a result, some employers are financial components to their wellness programs and benefits offerings. Some are offering student-loan repayment as a benefit, for example, while others are focused on financial education. Either way, the key is keeping worker's needs in mind.
