Workplace savings schemes are an increasingly popular way for employers to support their workers to build financial resilience. But our new paper, Spotlight on…The business benefits of workplace savings, reviews the evidence and finds that they may also deliver tangible business benefits for employers – alongside positive outcomes for their colleagues.
Spotlight on…The business benefits of workplace savings
The paper summarises existing evidence on the business benefits of supporting workers’ financial resilience across five areas:
1. Increased productivity
Financial resilience impacts employees’ performance at work – and improving employee financial wellbeing could boost productivity. For example, a survey of more than 2,000 UK-based workers found that employees’ self-reported productivity and performance at work was lower among employees with poorer financial resilience: 27% of employees said that money worries affected their ability to perform at work, but this increased to 63% among those struggling with bills and credit commitments.1
2. Improved attentiveness and safety
Money worries affect employees’ attentiveness and concentration. Analysis of a national survey carried out in the US found that among workers who had benefited from workplace financial wellness programmes, 19% of employees said these contributed to improved concentration.2
3. Improved job satisfaction
There’s an important link between employees’ financial wellbeing and job satisfaction. In the UK, the University of Lincoln offered an opt-out workplace savings programme to over 1,000 students employed on their campus, and 60% said it had made them feel more positive about their job and their employer.3
4. Improved retention
Employees’ financial wellbeing impacts on retention in the workforce. A survey of more than 3,600 workers in the US found that financially stressed employees are twice as likely to be likely to be looking for a new job, and that almost three-quarters (73%) said they would be attracted by employers who cared more about their employees’ financial wellbeing.4
5. Reduced absences at work
Financial stress contributes towards ill health, which can lead to absences at work. A survey by CIPD with around 5,000 employees found that 19% of all employees said they had lost sleep over money worries and 15% said financial pressures had caused health problems, such as stress.5
Next steps: Opportunities for employers to help build the evidence
As the paper highlights, there have been few studies designed to use robust real-world and behavioural data to really quantify the impacts of workplace financial wellbeing initiatives. This type of evidence could really help with overall progress on workplace saving and the benefits it brings – by offering more robust and measurable metrics to inform ‘return on investment decisions’ that employers make.
At Inclusive Money, we want to work with employers to measure the impact of workplace savings in their businesses for both employees and employers; in the technical appendices for this paper, we provide a measurement and indicator framework to support employers to get started with evaluating their workplace savings initiatives.
This spotlight paper also contributes towards the mission of the National Coalition for Workplace Savings. The Coalition brings together organisations from a range of sectors to increase the number of UK working adults who have emergency savings.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Coalition or working with us to build the evidence on the employer benefits of workplace saving, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at: hello@inclusivemoney.org.uk.
Fionna McLauchlan
1 Building Societies Association (2022). Boosting financial resilience and wellbeing through workplace saving
2 E. Frank-Miller, M. Covington, M. R. Despard, G. Hannon & M. Grinstein-Weiss (2017). Employee Financial Wellness Programs Project: Comprehensive report of findings (CSD Research Report No. 17-31). Washington University in St. Louis, Center for Social Development
3 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2023). Employee financial wellbeing: A practical guide
4 PwC (2023). Employee financial wellness survey 2023
5 CIPD (2025). CIPD Good Work Index 2025