Infographic: calculating the cost of employee financial stress on productivity

Calculating the cost of employee financial stress on productivity

For an organization with 200 employees, employee distraction due to ­financial stress could cost $1,000 per employee or just over $200,000 every year. Image of a calculator and paper with dollar sign.

Image of preoccupied person wearing a tie scratching his head. 43% of employees say that stress related to personal ­finances impacts their workplace performance^{Footnote 1}

43% of 200 employees = 86 employees who are distracted by their finances

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Image of a person sitting at desk in front of computer seeming very distracted and preoccupied because of money. 46% of distracted employees say they spend 3.5 work hours per week on financial issues^{Footnote 2}

46% of 86 employees = 40 employees spending 3.5 hours per week on fi­nancial issues

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Image of clock and office worker sitting at desk in front of laptop who appears discouraged. The remaining 54% of distracted employees spend less than 3 hours per week (for this calculation, we will use an average of 30 minutes)

54% of 86 employees = 47 employees spending 0.5 hours per week on financial issues

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Image of person, arms bent, with hands on hips who appears flustered.  40 employees x 3.5 hours + 47 employees x 0.5 hours = 163.5 hours lost to financial stress each week

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Image of 3 clocks going in trash can. 163.5 hours x 46 work weeks per year^{Footnote 3}  = 7,521 hours lost to financial stress in one year

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Image of coin with dollar sign. 7,521 hours x average wage of $27.66^{Footnote 4}  = $208,031 lost in a year due to financial stress

This is a conservative estimate of the cost as it does not include other potential costs, such as the cost of absenteeism, turnover, or employees not retiring when expected. You could attempt to come up with a more speci­fic cost for your organization based on a variety of factors or you can use the $1,000 per employee ­figure as a benchmark.

canada.ca/financial-wellness