Signal A 136-study review ties financial stress to lower performance and lost work hours

Summary

GWI's Workplace Wellbeing Initiative reports on a review of 136 studies examining financial stress and work. The review found that money worries undermine outcomes at work by reducing employees' health, commitment and performance. Financial stress was also linked to more conflict between work and family and to more deviant behaviour on the job. Among employees who are distracted at work by their finances, 56% spend three or more hours a week dealing with or thinking about money problems during working time. The Initiative presents this as measurable evidence of the cost of financial stress to employers. It supports the argument that financial health belongs in core workforce strategy rather than at the edges of benefits.