– 70 Percent of Human Resource Professionals say Workers’ Personal Financial Challenges are Impacting Job Performance and Company Productivity
– Employer-provided Financial Education Programs Seen as Helpful but Cost Can Be a Problem

Concerns and stress about personal finances are distracting U.S. employees during working hours, impacting their job performance and potentially sapping company productivity, according to a new survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

In the 2014 SHRM survey Financial Wellness in the Workplace, human resources professionals with the title of assistant director and above across a range of U.S. businesses and not-for-profit organizations, specified the breadth of financial challenges employees and companies are facing:

  • Seven out of 10 indicated that personal financial challenges have a large or some impact on their employees’ performance.
  • More than 40 percent said an overall lack of funds to cover personal expenses is impacting employees in their companies.
  • Almost 40 percent of employees are facing more personal finance challenges now compared with the onset of the recession in 2007.
  • Nearly 25 percent of human resources professionals said employees are experiencing more personal finance challenges now compared with 12 months ago.
  • The survey found a potentially alarming concern that employees were more likely to request a loan from retirement savings (60 percent) or a hardship withdrawal (44 percent) from retirement savings during the past 12 months compared to previous years.

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