2021 State of Employee Finances

Helping Employees Put Their Financial Lives Back Together Again in the Post-Pandemic World

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major disrupter. A critical piece of the disruption that employers cannot overlook is their employees’ financial situation.

Recovery is going to take time. By understanding the current state of employee finances – what they are worrying about now, what they predict both their financial situation and their financial stress level will be in January 2022 – employers will be better equipped to enhance the financial well-being of their workforce.

Harris Poll, on behalf of Purchasing Power, conducted research among 917 adults age 18 and older who are employed full-time or have a spouse that is employed full-time.

Three forms of results are available for review/download:

• An Industry Report summarizing survey findings
• Five key takeaways from the survey
• The Full Survey containing all questions and answers

What We Learned

Regardless of their household income or credit score level, full-time employees today worry the most about having enough in emergency savings to cover unexpected expenses. Although the majority of employees expect their financial situation to be better in January of 2022, they believe that their financial stress level will be the same – or even worse – than it is now. They admit their financial stress affects their work. And, employees say, having more financial well-being benefits would make them more likely to stay with their current employer. Further highlights can be found by clicking the View Survey Takeaways tab below:

Get a clearer picture of employees’ financial situation today and what they expect it to be in January 2022.