2019 Survey on Financial Wellness in the Workplace

Research Report Now Available: The 2019 Eckler Survey on Financial Wellness in the Workplace

September 2019

The amount of stress Canadians face today is unprecedented. Lack of focus at work, increasing amounts of time spent managing personal finances, increased use of employee benefit plans to manage stress-related illnesses, and a feeling of loss of control and confidence are now commonplace.

It is with this background that Eckler conducted our national survey of employees and employers to gauge their opinions, as well as gather information about current and future financial wellness practices in the workplace. The results provide a wealth of information about what is working well, what employees want, and where the current gaps in delivery are.

High-level findings include:

• More than half (54%) of employees feel some degree of stress about their finances, and close to one-third (32%) would describe it as a high degree of stress.
• Eighty percent of employees say they want some type of financial education at work.
• More than half (58%) of the employers surveyed offer some form of financial education, and one-quarter (25%) say they plan to offer it in the next two years.
• Live seminars were the preferred delivery method across all age groups.
• A significant majority (84% of employers and 90% of employees) want an unbiased third-party educator to deliver the program.

As employers continue to look to financial wellness programs as the prescription for mitigating both the personal and workplace impacts of financial stress, designing a program that fits the symptoms and is offered with the right treatment plan is the key to success. Our survey insights are a useful tool for understanding the current misalignment and creating a more effective treatment plan. To learn more, we invite you to download the survey report or contact us for a discussion with one of our consultants.