American employees between the ages of 25 and 34 are more financially stressed than other age groups, but the financial services benefits currently offered by their employers are not designed to meet those needs.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey finds that 50% of HR report that that their millennial employees experience the most financial stress, while 29% pointed to employees between the ages of 35 and 44 as the most financially stressed group.
Eighty-five percent say that when employees faced financial stress, there was a decrease in their productivity at work. Furthermore, 37% say that their employees had missed work in the last year because of a financial emergency.
Employee financial stress may manifest in the workplace through employees requesting pay advances.
More than half of HR professionals (53%) say that employees had approached a representative of the organization asking for a payroll advance in the last year. Additionally, 47% indicate that employees approached a manager or supervisor for personal financial advice in the last year.
Although millennials experience the highest levels of financial stress, financial benefits offered by employers focus on the needs of employees in older age brackets.
The most common financial benefit offered to employees was retirement planning and consultation (81%), while the next service most likely to be offered (42%) was financial literacy training for investing. Only 25% offer financial literacy training for basic budgeting, and only 8% offer credit monitoring services.
The survey polled more than 400 HR professionals.
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