Financial Wellness Programs for Employees: What HR Leaders Need to Know

Here’s the thing about financial stress at work: You can’t tell what the real cause is by looking at the data. The 36% of your employees who’ve missed work because of a financial problem? They called in sick. The 45% who say financial problems have distracted them at work? They’re in your meetings, making sales calls or running machinery. At a company your size, that’s hundreds of people. And none of them are going to bring it up.

Here’s what the research shows about the cost of financial stress at work and what to look for in a financial wellness program that actually works.

What Are Financial Wellness Programs for Employees?

A financial wellness program for employees is an employer-sponsored benefit designed to help employees improve their financial health by actually teaching them how to manage money—not by focusing solely on financial literacy or offering them more access to credit. The best programs go beyond a one-time checkup to combine practical tools (budgeting tools, debt payoff plans, savings goals) with accountability that drives lasting behavior change.

The worst kind of financial wellness programs aren’t about financial wellness at all. They’re built around earned wage access, debt products or cash advances. These look like support and may even be popular with your team, but they’re designed to profit from your employees’ financial difficulties. A real financial wellness program helps people get out of debt, not go deeper into it.

How Much Does Financial Stress Cost Employers?

Employee financial stress costs U.S. employers more than $1.1 trillion annually in lost productivity.² That number is showing up in your workforce whether you can see it or not.

• 82% of adults under 35 say they feel stressed about money.³
• 36% of employees have missed work due to a financial problem.
• A study by EBN found that 77% of business and HR leaders agree financial stress contributes to absenteeism.
• 45% of employees say financial problems have distracted them at work.

If financial stress is such a big problem, why is it so hard to address? The simple answer is that people don’t want to talk about money. Ramsey Solutions’ State of Personal Finance study shows Americans are more comfortable talking about religion, politics and marriage problems—even their sex lives—than their personal finances. You can probably identify with that feeling too. And that’s why financial stress stays invisible until it shows up as absenteeism, burnout or a resignation letter.

SmartDollar’s workplace research also found that 51% of employees say money stress has negatively affected their mental health.

By the time you realize the real issue is financial stress, you’re past the point of preventing it. Now, it’s a problem to recover from. But a financial wellness benefit can change that.

How Do Financial Wellness Programs Impact Retention and Productivity?

Companies offering SmartDollar—the financial wellness benefit program from Ramsey Solutions—see 27% less employee turnover among users than nonusers. In a market where replacing a single employee can cost 40–200% of their annual salary, that number makes the business case on its own.⁴

The productivity numbers tell the same story. According to the SmartDollar Impact Study, 43% of SmartDollar users say they spend less time dealing with financial distractions at work.

Here’s what that looks like for individual employees: 57% of SmartDollar participants have seen a decrease in debt, and participants average a $16,200 first-year financial turnaround (which is debt paid off combined with dollars saved). That’s the kind of measurable progress HR leaders can point to when building an internal business case. In fact, 66% of employers report seeing a positive ROI from their SmartDollar investment.

What Types of Financial Wellness Programs Are Available?

Not every program on the market is built to help your employees. Here’s a full breakdown:

Behavior-change platforms give employees a step-by-step plan and the tools to follow through on that plan. Users learn how to build and follow a budget, prioritize debt payoff, and target savings goals. SmartDollar, for instance, is built on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps—a proven framework that’s helped millions take control of their money over the past three decades. These types of programs help teams change what they actually do with their money, not just what they know about money.

Financial counseling and coaching can come through your EAP (Employee Assistance Program) or a stand-alone coaching. Both give your employees access to personalized financial guidance, and both have limited effectiveness. Personalized coaching is valuable, but without the structured curriculum and tools of a behavior-change platform, employees and their coaches spend time reacting to money problems instead of building habits to help employees avoid those problems in the future. The same is often true of most EAPs. While they provide essential support during moments of crisis, EAPs aren’t designed to deliver the long-term guidance employees need to create lasting financial change.

Financial education programs—webinars, courses and articles—teach concepts without providing personalized tools or follow-through. They’re useful as a supplement but are limited as a stand-alone solution.

Student loan repayment programs offer employer-assisted repayment by either matching a portion of the employees’ student loan payments or making direct contributions. This is a helpful benefit for employees working to pay off student loan debt, and more and more large employers are offering it. However, helping employees break free from student loan debt is just one piece of the financial wellness picture, not a comprehensive program.

Earned wage access (EWA) lets employees access their wages before payday. On the surface, it sounds like a way to relieve your team’s financial stress. But early access to a paycheck doesn’t break bad financial habits and only keeps employees locked in the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.

Emergency savings accounts (ESAs) allow employees to automatically set aside money for emergencies through payroll deductions. In some cases, employers can offer to match employee contributions. This is another benefit growing in popularity that can offer a real buffer against financial stress. But again, emergency savings are just one piece of an employee’s financial puzzle, not the whole thing.

Retirement and benefits optimization tools like 401(k) guidance and HSA maximizers help employees get more out of their existing benefits. Some vendors pitch these as financial wellness, but while they can be valuable add-ons, helping employees optimize their retirement accounts won’t address the debt, spending habits and financial anxiety that drive absenteeism and turnover today.

Debt and credit products are programs to avoid completely. If a vendor makes money when your employees take out a loan or open a line of credit, that’s a financial product, not a financial wellness program. And these “products” often leave your employees in a worse place than they started. Debt isn’t and never will be a path to real stability. Read the fine print before you sign.

What Should HR Leaders Look for in a Financial Wellness Program?

Most HR leaders evaluating financial wellness programs want the same thing—a benefit that actually moves the needle for their team and their business. Here’s what to look for:

1. Behavior change, not just financial education: Look for programs that give employees a specific plan—a budget, a debt payoff system, a savings goal—not just courses to watch. Information won’t change behavior without accountability and the tools to implement the plan.

2. No debt products: If the vendor profits when your employees take out loans or access wages early, walk away. That’s a debt-selling business disguised as a financial wellness benefit, and it’s out to make a profit—not to help your employees take control of their money.

3. Employer-level outcome data: Ask for hard numbers that demonstrate the program’s effectiveness, like turnover reduction, productivity impact and ROI. It’s not enough for a vendor to only show you employee satisfaction scores.

4. Coaching and support access: Money is personal. Ask whether the program includes access to financial coaches (not just content) who can help employees work through real situations without fear of judgment. When paired with a proven plan, coaches provide the human connection that helps employees stay motivated, overcome obstacles, and keep moving forward.

5. Real adoption support: A benefit no one uses isn’t benefiting anyone. Ask about average participation rates, what drives enrollment, and what happens when someone stops logging in.

6. Integration with your existing benefits: The best programs lift participation across your entire benefits package. Ask vendors whether they can show that effect in their data.

Ready to See the Numbers?

If you’re evaluating financial wellness programs for your team, SmartDollar’s team of experts can walk you through what ROI has looked like for companies your size. Schedule a free conversation.