Financial stress costing employers billions

A national survey of 1,100 working Australians* has found 1 in 4 employees spend an average of 20 hours per month of work time on their personal financial problems.

The survey, commissioned by Lifestyle Money Coach, also revealed that 65% of employees felt that they would not stress as much nor take their personal money worries to work if they had better financial knowledge.

Commenting on the survey, founder of Lifestyle Money Coach, Greg Smith said, "These figures represent a major opportunity for Australian employers to educate their workforce and reduce the loss of productivity due to presenteeism**. For those employers who have a mandate to enhance their corporate social responsibility, the simple act of arranging for an outside educator (other than their corporate super company - who have a product sales undertone) will have a massive impact. With employees being taught how to better manage their day to day basic money affairs - such as paying off bills, paying debts and managing cash flows smarter - they learn the life long skills to gain greater utility from the pay they receive."

Smith added that by arranging the appropriate Workplace Financial Education employers are giving their employees a true gift to help give themselves a pay rise now and into the future. "Clearly they are also saving themselves lost profits in the form of increased productivity," he said. 

* Source Survey by TPMG DIRECT of 1,100 Australian workers January 2010
** Cost of Presenteeism to Australian employers represents over $6bn pa. Source: The Cost of Workplace Stress Survey by Medibank in Australia August 2008