We have the best economy in the last generation. But still almost 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. More than 50% say they now save less than $100 a month for emergencies. And small business owners can help reduce this stress. At the same time, they can produce lower turnover. And they can reduce absenteeism fostering a more productive environment.
Listen to this week’s Small Business Radio Show. And hear as I explored these issues with Ilyce Glink. Glink is an award-winning financial journalist and now the CEO of Best Money Moves, a financial wellness platform that employers provide to their employees. She says the stress is being caused by stuck wages over the last ten years, high-deductible healthcare plans, and increasing debt especially from college. Simultaneously, small business owners are worried about making payroll and providing every increasing costly benefits.
Why You Want to Reduce Employee Stress at Work
Ilyce explains that employers should care about this since their employees spend 3-5 work hours per week on their own financial stressors and this adds up to costing American business about $250B every year. For the small business owner that has 5 employees paying each of them $50,000, this lost time could add up to a cost of $5,200 per person or $26,000 a year! Ilyce explains that stress causes people to not take care of themselves, eat worse, drink more, take drugs, sleep less and behave irrationally.
Ilyce believes for a productive workforce, we need to provide help to employees facing stresses in areas such as student debt, medical bills and budgeting. The first step is to find out which areas stress your particular employees and do your current benefits meet what they really need. Next, Ilyce points out there are programs that are publicly and privately available to help employees that can reduce the stress. But, it all starts with the employer caring and recognizing this problem.
Listen to the entire episode here for more ways you can help.
Image: Depositphotos.com