Quick Summary
January's Financial Wellness Month arrives as financial stress weighs heavily on employees across income levels, undermining focus, retention, and performance. With rising debt, inflation, and healthcare costs, employers have a timely opportunity to address financial strain in practical, meaningful ways.
Supporting financial wellness does not require employers to become financial experts, but it does require offering accessible benefits such as retirement planning, financial education, EAPs, and debt support. With the right mix of programs and clear communication, employers can strengthen loyalty and productivity. PEOs play a key role by making these benefits more affordable, integrated, and easier to implement for smaller and midsize business.
Supporting Financial Wellness Has Never Been More Important
This January’s Financial Wellness Month arrives at a time when employers and employees alike are feeling stretched thin. Economic uncertainty is lingering, holiday spending is coming due, healthcare costs are continuing to rise, and a range of business and personal expenses remain stubbornly high.
Worse, the sheer strain of their financial situations imposes its own costs for employees. Advisory group PwC reports that nearly two-thirds (60%) of full-time employees are stressed about their finances, higher even than during the pandemic! It’s not just low-wage workers, either. Nearly half (47%) of workers earning $100,000 or more annually are financially stressed.
“This year has been particularly tough for folks,” Ana Mahony, CEO of financial wellness platform Addition Wealth, told Employee Benefit News (EBN). “People are not only navigating household debt, which has reached an all-time high, but we're also seeing inflation that's gone up, student loan repayments and high credit card debt. It continues to be a tough time for Americans in terms of their finances.”
In turn, that financial distress eats away at performance. Financially stressed employers are 2x more likely to seek new job opportunities and experience increased absenteeism and 5x more likely to be distracted by their finances at work.
Supporting Financial Health Through Smart, Practical Benefits
Employees increasingly evaluate employers holistically. Pay, benefits, and wellness programs are not viewed as separate line items but as an integrated package that must support the whole person. When financial health needs go unmet, employees compensate in other ways (like searching for a new job or spending less time at work).
This makes Financial Wellness Month a strategic moment to reinforce loyalty, demonstrate care, and align benefits with what employees actually value.
Thankfully, supporting financial health does not require employers to become full-time financial advisors. Rather, it means enabling access to helpful programs and tools and reducing friction in the use of those benefits. This can include offerings like:
- Retirement and Investment Planning
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
- Financial Education and Coaching
- Debt Management Support (e.g., student loan repayment assistance)
- Emergency Savings Funds
The good news is there is a lot of opportunity for differentiation here. Just provisioning financial planning and education tools can set employers apart. In fact, offering a financial planning benefit alone could help a small business stand out even from its enterprise-level competitors. Even better, these benefits are easier to access than many small employers realize, if they work with a partner like a PEO (more on that point below).
Retirement Programs and Planning
One of the most foundational (and common) steps is encouraging retirement readiness. Financial Wellness Month is the perfect time to review your own retirement offerings.
For example, to verify if your 401(k) program is successful at promoting employee financial wellness, read our step-by-step guide to evaluating its competitiveness. Promoting 401(k) participation through clear communication, automatic enrollment, and periodic plan reviews helps employees build long-term financial health without requiring constant decision-making. Even modest employer contributions can signal commitment and build trust.
Beyond retirement plans, financial literacy programs play a critical role. Employees often avoid financial decisions not because they do not care, but because they feel overwhelmed or uninformed. Well-structured financial literacy programs can demystify budgeting, debt management, emergency savings, and retirement planning in ways that feel practical rather than intimidating.
EAPs and Related Financial Tools
Employee Assistance Programs, or EAPs, remain one of the most underutilized benefits in the small and midsize business space, despite their outsized impact on financial health. While more than 97% of large employers offer EAPs, only about one-third of companies with fewer than 100 employees do. That gap places smaller employers at a disadvantage when competing for talent.
EAPs frequently include financial counseling, legal guidance, and crisis support that extends beyond traditional insurance. Yet many employees do not understand what EAPs cover or how to access them. During Financial Wellness Month, employers can reintroduce EAPs not as a footnote, but as a cornerstone of financial health support. “I think of an EAP like medical insurance: It just takes one incident to make it invaluable,” business owner and HR director, Rachel Ego told the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). “It’s a very low-cost benefit that could have incredibly high value.”
How PEOs Strengthen Financial Wellness Efforts
For many employers, especially small and midsize businesses, delivering robust financial literacy programs and wellness benefits can feel overwhelming. This is where a professional employer organization, or PEO, becomes a strategic partner rather than a vendor.
For example, PEOs can make large-employer financial benefits available at small-employer-friendly budgets, like offering access to those powerful-and-undervalued EAP benefits.
PEOs help employers design integrated wellness strategies that support financial health without overburdening internal HR teams. From evaluating 401(k) competitiveness to implementing EAPs and rolling out financial literacy programs, PEOs bring scale, expertise, and ongoing support.
FAQ about Financial Wellness Month and Supporting Your Employees
What Is Financial Wellness Month, and Why Does It Matter?
Financial Wellness Month is observed in January to raise awareness around employees' financial health. For employers, it matters because financial stress directly affects productivity, engagement, and retention, making it a business issue as much as a personal one. As a result, employer-sponsored education and activities during Financial Wellness Month can both improve employee experience and boost workplace performance.
Are Financial Literacy Programs Effective?
Yes! A lot depends on the quality of the program, but research has found “the evidence shows that financial education programs have, on average, positive causal treatment effects on financial knowledge and downstream financial behaviors.” Well-designed programs improve confidence, decision-making, and long-term financial health, especially when paired with ongoing communication during Financial Wellness Month and beyond.
How Do EAPs Support Financial Health?
EAPs often include financial counseling and crisis support that directly improves financial health. They are especially valuable when employees face unexpected expenses or life disruptions. For a comprehensive look at EAPs, read our guides “What Is An EAP, and Why Do They Matter?” and “Unlocking the Power of Your Employee Assistance Program.”
How Can a PEO Help Financial Wellness Month Initiatives?
A PEO helps employers implement financial literacy programs, evaluate benefits relevant to financial wellness, and integrate holistic wellness offerings into a cohesive benefits strategy. This support ensures Financial Wellness Month efforts lead to lasting improvements for both employee and employer, rather than short-term awareness.
Want to uplevel your Financial Wellness Month efforts and offerings? CoAdvantage, one of the nation’s largest Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs), helps small to mid-sized companies with HR administration, benefits, payroll, and compliance. To learn more about our end-to-end benefits administration and offerings, contact us today.
**The information provided on this website is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. While we strive to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information, we make no guarantees about its correctness, completeness, or applicability to your specific circumstances. Laws and regulations are subject to change, and you should consult a qualified legal professional before making any decisions based on the information provided here.
