THE financial stress over household expenses was more prevalent amongst female employees, according to research that examined the disproportionate impact of household-related financial stress on women in the South African workplace.
Recent research into the state of employee wellbeing revealed a number of factors that impact labour productivity, as it showed that financial wellness was a key factor influencing overall employee wellbeing and, ultimately, productivity. It also revealed specific gender nuances regarding financial well-being.
The most notable of which was the main source of financial stress for women versus men as more women than men attributed their financial stress to the pressures of care-taking responsibilities and the cost of maintaining a household. This was said to be unsurprising when one considered that 42.1 percent of households in South Africa were headed by women.
These findings highlight the need for gender-informed employee experience and wellbeing initiatives in the South African workplace.
This was one of the conclusions drawn by the inaugural research report on employee wellbeing, conducted by on-demand earned wage access provider, Floatpays.
The study aims to provide insights into the current state of employee wellbeing in South Africa, with the ultimate aim of helping businesses improve productivity levels through the optimisation of employee wellbeing programmes.
Honing in on the aspect of financial stress as a contributing factor to employee wellness, the study segmented its audience, according to several demographic,s including ethnicity, age, income bracket and gender. One of the most compelling findings highlighted the plight of women.
Andisa Liba, the Chief People Officer at Floatpays, said the study found that 57 percent of women attributed their financial stress to household expenses as opposed to 49 percent of men.
“Furthermore, the cost of food affects 52 percent of women when compared to 42 percent of men. These findings are indicative of gender-specific challenges which need to be addressed at the level of the workplace because this stress ultimately impacts the bottom line,” Liba said.
With regards to gender, across the board, employees who experienced financial stress reported sleeping problems, difficulties with concentrating and negative impact on their mood. However, the proportion of females who experienced low emotional states was almost 10 percent higher than their male counterparts.
Liba said financial stress was a key trigger of a negative continuum that results in challenges such as absenteeism, low presenteeism and workplace errors, which had an impact on productivity.
“Financial stress is the opposite of financial wellbeing, and because such a large component of employee wellness relates to the financial state of employees, this should be a major concern for South African employers.”
Working towards a better employee experience was said to, however, be a multi-dimensional endeavour, which includes but was not limited to aspects such as fair compensation. For women, in particular, as the study revealed, access to learning and development opportunities were valued more highly when compared to men.
These learning opportunities extended to professional development, but also included education on aspects of financial management, which include learning how to be better financially prepared for an emergency, maintaining a healthy level of debt and managing cash flow between pay checks. Some 89 percent of female respondents expressed a need to be educated on how to manage their money better.
There was a business case to be made for employers to offer this kind of training at work since financial wellness impacted productivity.
However, Liba said solutions to better employee wellness, such as financial management skills development, needed to take the prevailing gender nuances into account.
“Women, who carry most of the domestic care-taking load, can benefit immensely from education on how to handle their money more efficiently and practical tools to assist them with managing their cash flow between paychecks better and saving in the context of limited financial resources,” Liba said.
BUSINESS REPORT