A third of workers are feeling a high degree of stress over their personal finance
Financial wellness is high on the list of priorities of most Canadians today: four in five workers on average are now looking to their employer for guidance on their personal finance.
In a study by consulting firm Eckler, the majority of working Canadians (80%) surveyed said they would like to receive training at work about how to better handle money matters.
With about a third of workers (32%) reporting a high degree of stress over money, having a good grasp of finance through education is proving to be necessary for workers to stay focused on their goals – both personal and professional.
Nearly half of workers said financial stress has affected their performance at work, the survey showed.
READ MORE: The most stressed workers in Canada revealed
“The amount of stress Canadians face today is unprecedented,” said Janice Holman, principal at Eckler. “Lack of focus at work, increasing amounts of time spent managing personal finances and increased use of employee benefit plans to manage stress-related illnesses is now commonplace.”
Who should lead financial education programs?
Most organizations now provide financial wellness programs to their staff, but questions remain regarding who should handle these initiatives. Employers (84%) and employees (90%) alike want their third-party financial education specialist to be unbiased.
“As employers continue to look to financial wellness programs as the prescription for mitigating both the personal and workplace impacts of financial stress, designing a program that fits the symptoms and is offered with the right treatment plan is critical to improving outcomes,” Holman said.
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Eckler consultant Frank Wiginton shared a similar view: “Who delivers the financial education plays an important role in how the messaging is perceived and accepted.”
“If the source of education is not trusted, motivation for employees to take action based on the information provided will be low. Receiving information from an unbiased source was the most highly ranked answer in the survey and is key to employees engaging with the education they receive,” Wiginton said.