Improving employee financial wellness and reducing stress: An action research inquiry.

In recent years employee financial wellness programmes have gained popularity as organisations begin to recognize that financial stress is one of the leading causes of distress in employees. Due to the direct consequences of employee stress in the workplace, including absenteeism, workplace accidents, and staff turnover. Employers in the private sector share a considerable interest in implementing employee financial wellness programmes (EFWPs) that can influence employee financial wellness. There is, however, little consistency in what programmes or content EFWPs should be offering to employees. Research into the effectiveness of these components in the workplace is lacking, especially in the South African context, where employees experience somewhat unique financial stressors. Through an action research study, we investigate the employer’s ability to positively influence employee financial stress by offering a financial literacy education programme, a spending and saving behaviour modification programme, and providing access to an innovative type of retirement fund programme. By monitoring employee stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) survey, we confirm the positive effects on employee stress through the first two of these programmes: financial literacy education and spending/saving behaviour modifications. This confirms the need for employers to implement EFWPs and the necessity of financial literacy and behaviour modification as components of such a programme. Further research is needed to confirm the positive influence of access to an innovative type of retirement plan. The retirement fund that was created was innovative and successful in that it minimised costs to generate returns that significantly outpaced other retirement funds. The findings also uncover some unique needs of South African employees, such as bankruptcy declaration assistance, and financial rehabilitation which should be considered for inclusion in future EFWP designs.