80% of Employees Have a Problematic Level of Debt (and Expect Employers to Help)
About a third (31%) say their employer’s efforts to help with their overall health and well-being has increased in the past year.
Concerns about financial well-being continues to rise among workers, a new survey has found, with 60% of respondents saying they are at least moderately concerned about their household’s well-being—an increase of 11 points since 2021.
In addition, 50% report being concerned about their emotional well-being, and 48% report being concerned about their physical well-being.
Workers agree that their employers have a responsibility for their wellbeing in these areas, and about a third (31%) say their employer’s efforts to help with overall well-being has increased in the past year. But fewer than half rate their employer’s efforts in these areas as excellent or very good.
Savings, bills and debt worry employees
The 2022 Workplace Wellness Survey, conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research, gathered data from more than 1,500 full-time and part-time workers in the U.S. The survey was conducted during July using online interviews.
The researchers found that saving enough money for retirement (45%), having savings in case of an emergency (41%), and paying monthly bills (38%) were the top causes of employees’ financial stress. Among the respondents who reported monthly bills as a top stressor, half said their mortgage/rent (53%) and groceries (52%) caused the most stress.
Debt was also a problem for a strong majority—80%—of employees. That is up sharply from 65% in 2021. Among those with a debt problem, 78% described their household’s level of credit card debt as a problem, 57% described their medical or health-related debt as a problem and student loan was listed by just over half (51%). Health emergencies (47%) are the biggest contributor to medical debt, while funding one’s own education (64%) was the top problem with student loan debt.
Mixed feelings about employment
Despite these concerns, most employees—60%—say they are extremely or very satisfied with their current job, which is consistent with the 2021 findings. The majority give high marks to their overall and mental health, with 60% saying their overall health is good or excellent, and 55% saying their emotional well-being and mental health is good or excellent.
The survey found that 77% of respondents said that their employers have a responsibility to make sure employees are mentally healthy and emotionally well, while 74% agreed that employers have a responsibility for their employees’ health and physical wellbeing. Two-thirds (66%) felt the same about their employer’s responsibility to ensure employees are financially secure and well.
Employers did not get high marks for their efforts to improve emotional and physical health. The survey found 45% of workers said their employer’s efforts to improve their emotional wellbeing was excellent or very good, and 43% said the same about efforts to improve physical wellbeing. Only 36% rated efforts to improve their financial well-being as excellent or very good.
A decrease in satisfaction with benefits
According to the survey, 44% of employees said they were extremely or very happy with their benefits package, down 7 points from 2021.
Health insurance (73%) and retirement savings plans (65%) were rated most important to employees’ decision to stay in their current job or choose a new job. Six in 10 said being offered health insurance (63%) and retirement savings plans (61%) through their employer contributed a lot to their feeling of financial security.
Health insurance (81%) continues to be the most common benefit employees offered to employees, followed by retirement savings plans (70%), vision insurance (70%), dental insurance (68%), and life insurance (63%).
Flexible work arrangements continue to be valued by employees. According to the survey, half of employees (51%) are working from home or teleworking all (24%) or some (26%) of the time. At least 7 in 10 employees say working from home has had a positive impact on their workplace well-being (78%), family/household dynamics (76%), physical well-being (74%), emotional well-being (74%), and financial well- being (71%).
After income and compensation, employees said they valued flexibility in work schedule (41%) and work-life balance (36%) most from their employer. A third (32%) said they value generous paid time off benefits most, while a quarter (26%) valued flexibility in work location most.
EBRI officials said this year’s findings were very meaningful, given how important workplace flexibility, work-life balance, and benefits have become to employees. “In recent years, key metrics like job satisfaction, benefits satisfaction and ratings of work/life balance have remained fairly consistent. It’s important to note the declines measured this year in overall benefits satisfaction and in ratings of work-life balance, which contrast with stable job satisfaction, and the belief that remote work has improved well-being and underscore the need for employers to ramp up well-being efforts,” said Lisa Greenwald, president & CEO, Greenwald Research.