Financial worries cost employers £14.2bn in turnover

Financial wellbeing provider Neyber has published its fourth annual DNA of Financial Wellbeing report and found the above statistic equates to £450k annually for a business of 1,000 employees.

The research looked into the spending habits and attitudes of more than 11,000 employees and 720 employers, surveying over 42,000 people since 2016.

This year’s research finds that 20.3m British workers – three out of five people - of all income groups are affected by money worries.

The report suggests that financial worries lead to a:

• £14.2bn cost in turnover, with 3.6 million employees looking for a new job - assuming actual turnover of 12.9 percent at average replacement cost of £30,614.
• £516m cost in lost productivity, as nearly three million people struggle to focus at work - assuming only one hour per month of lost productivity (1.5 days/year) at the average daily wage of £117.
• £478m absence cost, from 1.63 million employees taking time off work - an average 2.5 days off at the average daily wage of £117.

The report also shows the impact on employers when employees have money worries: 11 percent of employees are currently looking for a new job, one in 10 struggle to focus at work and those concerned about finances have each taken an average of 2.5 days off a year.

Neyber found that 73 percent of employers now have a financial wellbeing strategy for staff, but just 40 percent feel theirs is well-developed and four percent of employers include employee financial wellbeing as a top HR priority.