Nearly 76 per cent of UK workers feel anxious about their financial situation, according to research from financial wellbeing platform nudge Global.
According to the ‘Can We Connect’ report, released by global financial wellbeing platform nudge Global, more than two-thirds of workers are currently ashamed, angry, or depressed about their circumstances, indicating that global money has a significant impact on personal happiness and mental wellbeing. Four out of ten people are living paycheck to paycheck, and 76 per cent are concerned about their financial condition. The cost-of-living issue, new warnings that energy prices may rise again in October, and growing inflation, which the majority of the population, 95 per cent, is concerned about, have all contributed to these alarming results.
These issues have resulted in a significant increase in the 37 per cent of workers in nudge’s 2021 worldwide survey who are concerned about their finances. Employees with financial education perks, on the other hand, are 20 per cent more likely to have hope and contentment with their finances and 24 per cent more likely to feel connected to their business, according to the analysis.
Two-thirds of respondents or 66 per cent believe that having a variety of advantages, such as financial education support, helps to foster loyalty to their employer. Despite this, the study found that one-third of workers or 33 per cent don’t understand how their company’s financial benefits function. Offering financial education incentives would be successful in increasing their loyalty to their organisation, according to 64 per cent of high earners.
Furthermore, when young, high-earning employees – those aged 16 to 34 who make £75,000 or more per year — received financial education advantages, they felt substantially more attached to their firm. In particular, 66 per cent of individuals who received financial education benefits felt linked to their employer, compared to just 43 per cent of those who did not.
Compared to only 15 per cent of those who do not receive financial education benefits, 35 per cent of young, high-earning employees having access to financial education benefits trust their employers. When looking at the UK as a whole, more than four-fifths or 81 per cent of workers feel pessimistic about the country’s financial future. As a result of the recent turbulence, 35 per cent have lost faith in financial institutions.
Furthermore, 41 per cent of workers think the pandemic has made them more unsure about how to effectively plan for the future financially. Over a third or 36 per cent of employees want their employers to provide information on how to grow their retirement assets as a result of this. Only a small percentage of people are considering alternative savings choices such lifetime ISAs (21 per cent), equities (15 per cent), or mutual funds (8 per cent ).
nudge Global co-founder & director Jeremy Beament says: “The employer/employee relationship can be a stabilising element in an unstable world. Companies can strengthen the connection by providing tools and resources to help employees achieve their financial goals. Finpowerment — the way employers can empower their people to feel confident and in control of their money through financial education — significantly contributes to overall wellbeing.”