How to support employees with financial stress and worries

Everyone has money worries at one time or another. It’s when they start to become excessive that they become a problem

Almost everyone suffers from finance-related worry and stress at some time in their lives, whether it is managing day-to-day or meeting one-off large expenses.

For some, the anxiety can be a permanent fixture, affecting home and working lives, leading to absenteeism and low productivity at work.

Stress and worry related to financial concerns can present in many ways, and there are several mechanisms employers can use to support employees.

Excessive worrying

Given the current economic crisis, it’s likely that some people may be having excessive worries about finance. Some people may feel comfortable sharing their worries with others and ask for reassurance or even help, while some people may feel embarrassed about doing so. Often, if someone is worrying about something a lot and they cannot see any solution, this can lead to feelings of hopelessness and depression.

How employers can help

Speak to employees you believe are struggling with stress and worry to find out what the cause is, and to support the person in the most effective way. Consider signposting employees to organisations which specialise in money and debt advice, such as https://www.gov.uk/debt-advice.

Consider how you can support employees financially. If your organisation is unable to provide pay increases and bonuses, you could look at other ways to provide support, such as discount vouchers and rewards. Also consider salary sacrifice initiatives, such as electric car schemes and cycle to work schemes.

Have an open culture, one where employees feel safe to speak openly with their line manager or HR leader about their concerns and how they feel. Listen to the individual and ask them how you can best provide help and support.

Helping employees to spot the signs they are becoming anxious and stressed about finances

The problem is not necessarily worry; the problem is excessive worry. Long-term worry can cause us to feel mentally and physically exhausted. In the context of the workplace, we may notice a reduction in productivity or what others may term “presenteeism”.

Other signs may include physical symptoms of anxiety, such as physical tension, nausea, headaches, feeling hot or sweaty, increase in heart rate. When our anxiety levels rise, we often try to cope, and sometimes we end up avoiding things or using reassurance seeking behaviours.

In the context of finance, this might involve avoiding opening letters that look like they might be demanding money, or avoiding phone calls or home visits from people or companies we are in debt with. Or we might be asking for a lot of reassurance from family and friends. Asking for help can be problematic when we excessively seek reassurance and become overly dependent on others.

What can people do to help stop worrying?

Generalised Anxiety Disorder is a common mental health problem which essentially refers to excessive and uncontrollable worry about many different things for at least six months. The Cognitive Behavioural Therapy treatment protocols which are evidence based can provide some helpful strategies for people who may be having excessive financial worries.

It is worth employees considering whether they are in financial difficulty or are worrying about financial difficulty. If they are in financial difficulty, then they may consider implementing some practical strategies to help. Here are four ideas to pass on to employees:

1. Schedule time to focus on your worries

Two to three times a day (10 to 15 minutes each) focus on your worries. Essentially, you want to try to organise and structure the worry into a few discrete periods in the day rather than worrying throughout the whole day. This helps break the cycle of one “what if” worry turning into an excessive number of worries.

We are not blocking or suppressing worries as this does not work. The rebound effect means it is more likely to come back more powerfully when we try to avoid and suppress. Instead, we are aiming to save up that worry for later.

2. Write down your worries

During worry time, write down your worries. Be specific but also brief, e.g. what if I cannot pay my gas bill? What if the gas company turns off my gas supply?

If the worry is about something in the future and you cannot do anything about it now, then worrying about it is pointless. We want to try and let go of this worry. If on the other hand there is something you can reasonably do today, or this week, then do it.

3. Reflect on why you think worry helps?

Worry does not stop bad things happening. Worry does not make us feel less upset if what we worry about occurs in real life. Worry and problem solving are two different things. The more anxious and worried you are, the harder it will be to use your thinking part of the brain because of the flight, fight or freeze response. Worry makes it harder to problem solve and there may be better ways to show that you care.

4. Coping with uncertainty

If we have financial difficulties, we will want to know answers now and guarantees that everything will be OK. Unfortunately, we cannot predict the future, so the aim is to try and build tolerance and acceptance of the fact that we do not know what the outcome is of our financial predicament.

Reducing avoidance and reassurance seeking behaviours can be a good way to start building this tolerance. An example might be opening the final demand letter and reading it or even calling the company to discuss the debt, even though we do not know the outcome of that conversation.

How we see problems influences how we deal with them. If we view problems as danger and threat, we are very likely going to avoid them and then the problem is going to be harder to solve. We want to try and see the potential opportunities, so that we are more likely to approach the problem.