Closing the Financial Wellness Gap
Bank of America’s Workplace Benefits research found that the number of employees seeking employer support for financial wellness, emergency savings, and debt management has doubled in just two years, underscoring the growing role employers play in helping workers navigate financial stress. Financial stress has quietly become one of the most significant workforce challenges facing employers today.
Employers are investing more than ever in employee well-being. They’re expanding benefits, introducing financial wellness programs, enhancing healthcare offerings, and searching for new ways to support employees through a period of economic uncertainty. Yet financial stress continues to rise across the workforce.
Recent workforce research reveals a troubling reality: while employers believe they are effectively supporting employee financial well-being, many employees don’t feel that support at all. The result is a growing financial wellness gap one that affects productivity, engagement, healthcare decisions, retirement readiness, and long-term workforce resilience.
However, making resources available and helping employees actually use them are two very different things.
The Growing Workforce Impact of Financial Stress
Financial stress isn’t confined to a single employee demographic it reaches every level of the organization. Brandon Hall Group research found that in a recent survey, two-thirds of organizations reported that more than 70% of their workforce experiences financial pressures multiple times each week during the workweek. Whether it’s an entry-level employee struggling with everyday expenses, a mid-career professional balancing childcare and mortgage costs, or a senior leader planning for retirement, financial concerns are becoming a shared workforce challenge. As a result, financial stress is no longer limited to a small segment of employees.
Prudential’s 2026 Benefits & Beyond research found that 68% of employees experienced financial stress in the past year, with 28% describing it as significant or overwhelming. Nearly half reported greater economic uncertainty, and 44% said planning for the future has become more difficult.
The sources of stress are familiar:
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Health Care Costs
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Rising costs of everyday goods
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Housing affordability challenges
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Retirement savings concerns
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Growing personal debt
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Living paycheck to paycheck
Employees are reducing savings contributions, delaying retirement planning, postponing vacations, and most concerning, delaying necessary medical care because of financial concerns.
The Disconnect Employers Can’t Afford to Ignore
Many employers recognize these challenges and are taking action.
High-performing organizations are redesigning benefits, exploring new healthcare funding models, expanding wellness offerings, and implementing programs intended to improve employee financial resilience. Yet many employees often don’t see those efforts. Employers consistently cite employee well-being, employee experience, and retention among the top drivers of benefits decisions.
Prudential research also uncovered some striking perception gaps:
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60% of employers believe they support employee financial health very or extremely well, while only 28% of employees agree.
Analysis of Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards-winning organizations found that financial wellness programs remain significantly less prevalent than other well-being initiatives such as gym memberships and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). This suggests that while employers recognize the importance of financial well-being, many organizations are still early in building comprehensive financial wellness strategies.
The gap isn’t necessarily caused by a lack of investment. It’s often caused by a lack of connection. Employees cannot benefit from programs they don’t understand, can’t access, or don’t recognize as relevant to their lives.
Healthcare Costs Are Intensifying Financial Pressure
One of the most revealing findings in the Prudential research may also be the simplest. Only 13% of employees reported looking at employer-provided resources to help improve their financial situation.
Think about that.
At a time when financial stress is affecting the majority of workers, nearly nine out of ten employees aren’t turning to resources their employers already provide.
For years, organizations have focused heavily on building benefits portfolios. The next phase of financial wellness requires equal focus on helping employees discover, understand, and use those resources at the moments they matter most.
The difference between benefits investment and benefits impact is communication.
Along with Many Other Rising Costs, Healthcare Costs Are Making the Problem Worse
Healthcare costs are becoming one of the most significant drivers of financial stress.
Medical debt is contributing to employee financial stress. Bank of America reports that nearly one in five employees carry medical debt, adding to broader financial pressures that affect both personal well-being and workplace performance. Yet despite rising healthcare costs, only 34% of employees report saving or investing specifically for future healthcare expenses, leaving many workers vulnerable to additional financial strain.
One organization recognized that helping employees navigate rising healthcare costs required more than simply offering benefits, it required making those benefits easier to understand and use.
AZEK, recipient of Brandon Hall Group’s 2025 Gold Award for Best Benefits Strategy and Administration, redesigned its benefits strategy around transparency, flexibility, and employee communication. Rather than shifting rising healthcare costs directly to employees, the company used market benchmarking and data driven plan design to balance affordability with high-quality coverage while minimizing disruption. Employees were offered multiple plan options tailored to different needs and income levels, supported by proactive communication through benefits guides, town halls, onboarding, and ongoing updates.
Just as importantly, AZEK recognized that benefits only create value when employees understand them. The organization invested in education, personalized guidance, and simplified enrollment, leading to greater employee engagement, more informed benefits decisions, and a better overall employee experience. Their success demonstrates that managing healthcare costs is not only about plan design it is about helping employees confidently navigate the choices available to them.
The Future of Financial Wellness Is Integrated Support
The most successful employers are beginning to move beyond standalone financial wellness programs and toward integrated employee support strategies.
These organizations understand that financial wellness intersects with:
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Healthcare affordability
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Retirement readiness
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Emergency savings
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Mental health
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Benefits navigation
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Workforce productivity
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Employee experience
Financial resilience is not built through a single tool or annual enrollment campaign. It is built through ongoing guidance, personalized support, and coordinated experiences that help employees make confident financial decisions throughout their careers.
Technology, behavioral science, and AI-driven personalization are making this possible at a scale that wasn’t achievable just a few years ago. The organizations that succeed will be those that connect resources, guidance, communication, and action into one cohesive experience.
Closing the Gap
Financial wellness has evolved beyond a benefits conversation. It has become a workforce strategy. When two-thirds of organizations report that the vast majority of their employees experience financial pressure multiple times each week, financial well-being can no longer be treated as a peripheral benefit. It is a business issue, a workforce issue, and increasingly a competitive issue.
Organizations that help employees build financial resilience won’t simply improve benefit utilization they will strengthen trust, improve workforce performance, and better position themselves for the future of work.
