Dive Brief:

• Humana Inc. released its 2017 Humana Wellness Trends Report, the results of which show that financial problems are employees’ top stressor. The report aims to guide employers on significant wellness challenges and recommends ways to make wellness programs more holistic and inclusive.
• The report identified four topics affecting wellness: An aging population, financial well-being, mindfulness and sleep. Humana is also monitoring a comprehensive trend it refers to as "the connected experience 2.0," which describes the connection between technology and health information and how this relationship will reshape the way employees manage their wellness.
• The report also found poor sleep to be a key wellness problem, which leads to more errors at work and low morale. Among workers age 30 and over, 74% said that insufficient sleep adversely affects their job performance.

Dive Insight:

More employers are focusing their efforts on helping workers who are trying to cope emotionally with financial problems. Financial stress is an age-old problem for workers, especially during hard economic times.

Job performance obviously suffers when employees are struggling with stress over financial problems. Employers can recommend help for employees through employee assistance programs and wellness programs. EAPs are free for workers.

An aging workforce often must deal with rising healthcare costs along with the burden of caring for both their parents and children. The Humana report says 14.5% of the U.S. population is over age 65 and is expected to grow to 21.7% by 2040.

Part of the solution lies in retirement plan education and support, which can affect workers regardless of their age or level of experience.