drawing of woman looking thru telescope with dollar sign at end (Photo: Shutterstock)

More than ever, employees are looking to their employers for financial wellness help. Each individual employee has a different need when it comes to finances. Where do employers even start?

Tate Hackert, co-founder and president of ZayZoon, suggests financial planning programs, Emergency Spending Accounts (ESA), or Earned Wage Access (EWA) as places to start.

With 63% of the workforce living paycheck to paycheck, more and more employees are struggling to accommodate unexpected and everyday expenses. What do you see as the main contributing factors to this rise in financial insecurity?

Employees are struggling to make ends meet because their daily expenses are outpacing their income. At ZayZoon, we have the benefit of being able to directly interact with employees across the U.S. and our data shows that they're most stressed about paying their bills, followed by having a place to live, putting food on the table, and navigating emergencies. The anxiety produced by a potential recession and decreased job security has many Americans wondering what will come next.

How has the current economic climate exposed existing issues around financial literacy and the need for financial wellness support? Why are employers, specifically, in a position to address these pitfalls with their employees?

Last year, we launched a survey, the State of Financial Wellness, to thousands of employees because we wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges they're facing in the workplace. The insights were telling. Even though a quarter of respondents are very stressed about their finances, only 44% have a personal budget to track monthly spending.

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