Focusing on financial wellness isn’t an ongoing fad. It’s anissue that is here to stay for the foreseeable future and thenumbers paint the troubling picture of employees’ financial literacy.

In fact, lack of money management skills among employees may bea bigger issue than many employers realize. Even more serious isthe impact employees’ lack of financial health is having oncompanies. Employers who accept this reality and then providefinancial wellness education and benefits to help employees improvetheir financial literacy are on their way to having more productiveworkers as well as an enhanced bottom line.

The state of employees’ financialhealth

Just looking at how employees are handling their financesindicates why they are financially stressed and less productive atwork. Many hard-working Americans are struggling with theirfinancial situation. They have trouble meeting monthly expenses,making minimum payments on credit cards, obtaining major purchasesthey need to make, and saving money for unexpected emergencies. Andtheir financial stress affects their job performance, making it aproblem for their employer.

Look at the statistics. According to a Harris Poll on behalf ofPurchasing Power conducted last November among U.S. adults employedfull-time and/or spouse is employed full-time:

• 40 percent don’t have at least $2,000 in emergency savings forunexpected expenses, such as car repairs, replacing majorappliances or an unexpected health emergencies that mayoccur; and

• 34 percent have had trouble meeting monthly household expenses,like rent/mortgage, car payments, cable bills and credit cardbills.

One reason why employees could be having financial issues is alack of financial literacy. According to a survey conducted byHarris Poll in March of this year on behalf of Purchasing Poweramong U.S. adults employed full-time and/or spouse is employedfull-time:

• Two out of five (41 percent) don’t have a planned monthlybudget;

• Of those who have a monthly budget, one out of four (26 percent)don’t put anything into savings each month; and

• Nearly one-third (31 percent) say that in the past three years,they have run short on funds and had to use credit cards to paysome of their monthly expenses (such as phone, cable, utilities,etc.).

The root cause of the financial literacy crisis among today’semployees is somewhat murky. Some believe it’s due to kids notlearning about finances in school,while others argue that the lack of financial education starts athome. Solving the situation for future employees — today’s children— is one issue, but dealing with the financial literacy crisis nowamong the current workforce is something employers shouldaddress.

How it impacts employers

How widespread is the financial epidemic among the workforce?The November Harris Poll revealed that 82 percent of employeesworking full-time have financial stress. Of those, 39 percent saidthey have at least a fair amount of stress, while 43 percentreported some stress.

What should be disconcerting to employers, though, is the amountof time employees are spending at work — on the clock — dealingwith their financial situation. Here’s the real eye-opener: AHarris Poll on behalf of Purchasing Power last December showed that37 percent of full-time employees deal with their finances at work.Moreover, of those who deal with their finances at work, the amountof time they spend at the office doing so is considerable:

• 42 percent spend 1 hour per week;

• 34 percent spend 2-3 hours per week;

• 15 percent spend 3-4 hours per week; and

• 9 percent spend 5 or more hours per week.

When employees take this time to deal with personal finances atwork, their productivity drops, and the employers’ bottom line isnegatively affected.

What employers and brokers can do

These statistics underscore the need for employers to providefinancial wellness education and benefits to help employees improvetheir financial literacy. Further, employees are looking for thesekinds of opportunities from their employers.

Employers should address the workday impact of their employees’financial stress by providing them with education and trainingtools to help them prevent major financial issues, change thecourse of their financial decisions and improve their financialwellness.

Accordingly, benefit brokers can help employers take stepstoward building a more financially secure workforce throughfinancial wellness benefits. In addition to securing onlinefinancial education resources, companies can take advantage ofvalue-added programs and financial wellness platforms offered bytheir current benefit providers, as well as other non-traditionalvoluntary benefits, such as financial counseling services andemployee purchase programs that address further aspects offinancial wellness.

In addition to providing financial education offerings,employers can offer programs that help employees with theirshort-term financial needs, including employee purchase programs,discount programs and short-term loans.

As a result of providing thoughtful financial wellness educationthrough in-house resources and considering non-traditionalvoluntary benefits that also addressthe topic, employers not only will take a more active role inimproving financial literacy, but will enhance their employeerelationship and their bottom line.