'Financial counselling is so undervalued'
This article was created in partnership with TELUS Health.
As we head on into 2026, financial worries continue to plague employees both at work and at home. According to TELUS’ 2025 Mental Health Barometer, 44% of Australian employees say financial concerns are their primary source of personal stress. Across their global insights, financial strain consistently emerges as one of the strongest predictors of overall mental health and daily functioning, and Australia is no exception.
In a recent interview with HRD, Ghazal Lahooti, Manager Clinical Delivery at TELUS Health, revealed that these financial woes are seeping insidiously into the workplace causing stress, mental health decline and burnout on a mass scale.
“When we look at the data from TELUS’s Mental Health Barometer, financial pressure is one of the most consistent predictors of strain across Australia. It’s the same data month after month, the same pattern, because people are reporting financial insecurity and difficulty meeting basic expenses. Those are all things that score really low on mental health and productivity indicators.”
Younger workers more financially stressed
Starting the day already concerned about housing costs, bills and unexpected expense means many workers are already mentally drained before reaching their desks.
“From a clinical perspective, when somebody's already waking up worried about housing, grocery costs, unexpected bills even before the day has started in the workplace, they're already depleted.”
Here, Lahooti emphasised that this depletion harms not just emotional wellbeing, but core workplace capabilities - concentration, focus, problem-solving and decision-making.
“Their cognitive and emotional resources are down even before they jump onto the first Teams meeting,” she told HRD. “And if we look at that from different generations in the workplace, it’s the younger workers who’re feeling it more intensely.”
Young workers, already grappling with insecure work, high housing costs, and limited savings, are entering the day with far less emotional and financial buffer than previous generations. And, according to TELUS’ report, while 41% of Australian workers face constant stress here - it’s those under 40 who’re impacted the most.
Why? Well, as Lahooti told HRD, this generation are grappling with higher living costs compounded by lower savings.
“Their work is so insecure as well,” she added. “So their sense of agency is already really, really, really reduced.”
The result is a workforce showing rising signs of fatigue, disengagement, higher error-rates and turnover, all of which start long before burnout becomes visible. These pressures inevitably surface at work, often showing up in reduced engagement, higher absence rates and lower energy across teams.
And while employers can’t fix inflation or housing affordability, Lahooti pointed out that organisations have enormous influence over one crucial factor - vulnerability within the workplace. Because, as the data shows, employees feel significantly better even without improved finances when they feel supported, informed and connected to practical resources. That means employers must go beyond traditional EAP promotion and explicitly highlight the financial wellbeing support embedded within those programs.
Budgeting assistance, debt management counselling, emergency savings planning, and financial education tools are among the most powerful and underused resources modern EAPs offer.
These services sit within a broader ecosystem of support, from counselling to coaching to practical planning, giving employees a way to stabilise their financial situation while also addressing the emotional strain that comes with it.
“Financial counselling is so undervalued,” she told HRD. “But financial resources [can help] in many ways around how to manage crises but also how to build a sense of personal control so that employees have things they can fall back on.”
Red flags your employee is financially stressed
And just as essential is cultivating psychological safety. Many employees fear disclosing financial stress to supervisors – as such, normalising these conversations can be transformational, not just for employee wellbeing but for organisational culture at large.
As Lahooti went on to tell HRD, there’s now substantial evidence that strong financial wellbeing offerings directly improve morale, reduce absenteeism, and support retention. What’s more, that organisations offering financial counselling through their EAPs see markedly better outcomes.
“With our clients, we see strong results when organisations offer financial counselling through EAPs - that’s a massive factor. [Ultimately], it’s not just about the mental health aspect, it’s also about having access to all parts the EAP - particularly the financial coaching aspect. This will also lead to fewer stress-related absences and lower absenteeism overall.”
For HR leaders, it becomes a question of how can they spot the signs of financial stress in their employees and make proactive steps to actually help resolve the issues. As Lahooti told HRD, these signs often emerge as subtle but consistent shifts in an employee’s daily patterns. These changes may include:
- lapses in concentration
- rising fatigue
- increased errors
- reduced availability
- unusual patterns of leave
- sudden overtime requests
- increased questions about pay cycles
“There may be a sudden disengagement or a disconnect,” added Lahooti. “You may notice it levels of fatigue, in shifts of availability or in sudden leave or unusual leave. Here, anything we do as leaders should be about a compassionate connection. It's about engaging and responding and being really relational so you understand what's happening for your staff.”
How TELUS Health can help you support your people
Recognising financial stress, however, is only the first step. To really make a difference, HR teams must proactively partner with their EAP provider to tailor support to their specific workforce.
“When an employee reaches out about financial stress, it always begins with a conversation. Our clinicians take the time to understand what’s happening in their world, then connect them with the right mix of support. That might include financial coaching, budgeting or planning guidance, digital tools that help them track expenses or build savings, and education that builds confidence over time. These options sit alongside emotional and clinical support, giving people a more complete pathway to regain control and take their next steps.”
And this support really can’t come soon enough. According to TELUS’s report, 31% of Australian workers want to improve their financial management, but 22% of those have not made any progress towards their goal. What’s more, 34% of employees do not have emergency savings and their mental health score is nearly 20 points lower than the national average and nearly 30 points lower than workers with emergency savings.
“Each of your employment groups within an organisation are going to face this differently,” added Lahooti. “Their stresses might be connected very much with both - but linking in with your staff and offering some of these options really is going to then give them some better tools and coping skills as well.”
