We all know that stress is part of life in modern society and one of the biggest challenges we have as people is how to mitigate and minimise the impact of stress.
But when it comes to the workplace, prolonged stress can have a negative impact – not only on individuals, but also on teams and ultimately the whole business.
When we speak of stress today, one form of stress is more prevalent than others and can have far-reaching and devastating consequences. We are, of course, referring to financial stress.
It is not surprising that in both the private and public sectors employees are feeling the ripple effects of tough economic conditions, downsizing, consolidation and other marketplace realities.
Research shows that there is a direct link between financial stress and human resource issues such as productivity, morale, motivation and innovation. Shop-sa online points to research in 2022, conducted on behalf of the Floatpays State of Employee Wellbeing, which claims that financial or debt stress is a key factor influencing employee wellbeing.
Employers are also more aware that debt stress results in issues like absenteeism, awkward exchanges between external debt collectors and employees, as well as mental wellbeing in general.
It stands to reason that an employee who is stressed out about financial worries cannot be 100% focused on their work responsibilities. If left unchecked, productivity can drop quickly and so too the overall morale or general mood of employees.
The knock-on effect is that the business will suffer and in current market conditions, where agility and tenacity is a must, any adverse impact on the bottom line can be crippling.
An article on allworthfinancial.com confirms that money problems have already begun to take their toll on workers. The statistics reported on make for sobering reading – financially stressed employees are twice as likely to look for another job, six times more likely to acknowledge that stress has reduced their productivity, and seven times more likely to acknowledge that stress has impacted their attendance.
As with all human resource trends, it is important to differentiate the role of the employee and that of the employer, what their respective responsibilities are and what is the best course of action to take.
It must be emphasised that it is never too late to care, feel valued or extend a helping hand. It is important to be open to frank and constructive conversation.
Employees should do as much as they can to take the right steps to address this stress, including budgets, an emergency savings account, understanding investment and other measures that are worthwhile investigating.
Employers can assist wherever possible and offer as much support as possible to reassure the employee and help them get back on track in terms of targets and deliverables.
As the saying goes – ‘we’re in this together’, and that is the approach business should take.
