Counseling sessions intended to help employees repay theiroutstanding monetary obligations andorganize their finances now play an increasingly important role inpromoting labor stability.

Investigating the changing trend in corporate culture, a recentstudy conducted by the International Foundation of Employee BenefitPlans (IFEBP) highlighted the dramatic disconnect between workers'economic unease and the preparedness of corporate leaders to offerfinancial guidance within the workplace under ordinary businessconditions.

The IFEBP survey queried the representatives of more than 400public and private organizations within the U.S. and Canada.According to the resulting estimates, just about half of allparticipants deemed their workforce to be significantly challengedby the expenses of basic living, and nearly two-thirds presumedadditional difficulties would hinder efforts at saving for retirement orjuggling the costs associated with unsecured revolving debtloads.

Fortunately, industries of all stripes have come to embrace theimportance of alleviating worries over fiscal ruin from householdmismanagement, and companies large and small are devising newstrategies. Corporate giants install departments devoted toemployee debt servicing whilesmall businesses enlist the occasional help of independentfinancial planners.

While a few hidebound executives (less than five percent, givenIFEPB figures) may argue that a firm's responsibility to employeesbegins and ends with signing their checks, the most successfulcompanies have come to realize that more invasive strategies arerequired to ensure their best and brightest operate at peakefficiency.

Given the economic uncertainties of our era and the dangersposed by medical bills or tuition loans, even the mostfiscally-practical employees can find themselves trapped beneaththe vicious spiral of compounding interest. While many would manageto figure their own way out from underneath seemingly unbearabledebt loads, many more will inevitably succumb to the constantpressures.

Most crucially, for corporate concerns, anyone struggling toturn around their family's financial tides without professionalassistance will inevitably find their work helplessly neglected asthe non-stop tensions take their toll.

Considering the proven correlation between mental health andphysical fitness, ill-prepared businesses unwilling to ease suchburdens plaguing their labor force may be forced to confront therepercussions only after noting the rise of illness and preventableinjury.

If there seems to be little consensus upon the corporate world'scurrent array of potential remedies — a dizzying breadth ofadvisory measures ranging from the banal (retirement incomecalculators, projected account balance statements) to the admirable(voluntary workshops, personal consultation services) — the January2016 snapshot of current practices at least found an increasingmomentum toward assistance measures.

Indeed, according to IFEBP data, a third of the organizationalprograms supporting financial education originated less than fiveyears ago. Moreover, the corporate respondents to the formal surveyexpressed an overwhelming belief that the trend would progressregardless of the larger economic forces at play.