Mental health support, private healthcare, cash plans and employee assistance programmes are just some of the offerings employers have added to their benefits arsenal to help staff who are suffering through the cost of living crisis.
Wagestream research revealed 70% of UK employees surveyed were now worryed about money, with 76% suffering worse mental health as a result.
While one in five of those who have asked their employer for support in the last three months asked for help with mental health, 76% of employees negatively affected by the cost of living crisis had not told their employer at all.
The State of Financial Wellbeing: The Cost of Living Report 2022 also showed that dipping into savings to deal with the cost of living crisis had the biggest negative impact on life quality of workers.
This was associated with an average 5% reduction in whether life felt worthwhile and 4.2 extra days of worry per month. It was also linked to a 10% increase in anxiety felt on the day before participants filled in the survey and an average 8% reduction in life satisfaction.
When asked about the forms of support employers have introduced over the last three months, mental health support was most common, followed by increased hours or shifts.
Other health benefits such as cash plans, private medical insurance and employee assistance programmes featured among the benefits being added to employers’ offerings by at least one in ten organisations.
