Addition Wealth shares 3 financial wellness trends shaping the workplace in 2024

The best benefits employees need to manage their finances in 2024

January 24, 2024 4:11 PM

When employers consider total employee wellness, they can't overlook the impact financial well-being has on the bigger picture.

Eighty-two percent of workers are thinking about their personal finances at work, according to a recent study from software company Ceridian. That financial stress adds up to a whopping $664 billion in lost productivity — a number that is estimated to keep rising if employers don't have their finger on the pulse of what will be impacting workers in the year ahead.

"This year has been particularly tough for folks," says Ana Mahony, CEO of financial wellness platform Addition Wealth. "People are not only navigating household debt, which has reached an all-time high, but we're also seeing inflation that's gone up, student loan repayments and high credit card card debt. It continues to be a tough time for Americans in terms of their finances."

Forty-nine percent of employees said they find it difficult to meet household expenses on time each month, according to a recent study from PwC, up from 41% in 2022. Among employees carrying credit card balances, 44% say they struggle to make minimum payments on time each month, and 28% report they often or always run out of money between paychecks. This has led to 56% of employees reporting a negative impact on sleep, 55% on their mental health and 44% on physical health.

Employees struggling with their finances are also twice as likely to be looking for a new job, according to PwC, and 73% say they would be attracted to another employer that cares more about their financial well-being. Figuring out how to strategize their benefit offerings to better support their workforce financially has never been more important, Mahony says.

"The world is becoming increasingly complex," she says. "There's a lot more choice, which is a good thing, but it gets complicated when they don't have the support that they need to navigate those decisions."

Mahony shared the most pressing employee financial wellness trends set to impact employers in 2024 and what it could mean for business.

Debt will weigh heavily on employee mental health

"When people are stressed about their finances, they're thinking about money at work," Mahony says. "January is often when we see this theme of Blue Monday as people's holiday bills come due, but beyond that, employers should be expecting the depressed feelings to be even more intense as employees navigate their aforementioned debt."

To be proactive about the topic, Mahony suggests that employers take advantage of financial wellness platforms in the same way they've offered other wellness support for mental health, or fertility and family planning benefits. At Addition Wealth, their team of financial specialists helps employees with everything from personal financial decisions, to professional financial decisions such as how employees get paid, how to maximize 401(k) contributions and how to choose their benefits.

Modern work requires new types of financial education

"A lot of employees have been traditionally very self-directed in their financial decisions, both because that's how they operate, but also because people can't afford a financial wealth adviser," Mahony says. "But the ways that people used to think about giving and getting financial help and advice are just no longer relevant in the modern workplace."

As a result of changes to the way employees have worked the last few years, employers should expect questions they maybe didn't receive the year before, Mahony says. These include inquiries like how remote work will impact employee's taxes or how much employees should be budgeting for healthcare if they're freelance or gig workers. The more specific and nuanced employers can get with their financial wellness support, the better.

People want personalized support, but it’s still out of reach for most

While previously seen as a benefit for the well-off, 87% of people still want some kind of personalized financial wellness benefit, according to Addition Wealth. In the companies they partner with, the platform sees a 70% engagement rate, making it an opportunity worth looking into for employers.

"Employers bring us on to help their employees maximize the value of what they're earning, but also to be able to acquire and retain employees better than they can do today," Mahony says. "We do expect this to become standard across most companies very soon."