Money Troubles & Work

When money troubles bog you down, it can be hard to concentrate on the job.  A new study by a professional human resource organization finds that money is tight for many workers and a majority say it's having a negative affect on employee performance. 

You spend a lot of time at your job earning money to pay your bills.  But in these tight economic times, it doesn't always go far enough.  And companies are noticing the affect on their employees. 

"They see their employees are under a lot of stress and if it's not dealt with, people start to be distracted at work. They're taking phone calls at work to deal with personal problems and they want those employees to be mentally and emotionally healthy.  That helps them to be better employees overall," Tim Heerts of Key Solutions said.

More companies are using employee assistance programs to get workers counseling with their finances.  Key Solutions in Sioux Falls has added on companies and is doing more financial counseling than ever.

"Since 2008-2009, we've seen an increase in calls that way; where people are looking and they're getting desperate and they want some kind of help with their finances," Heerts said.

Key Solutions will address the problem initially and then refer the person on to other groups that specialize in finances, like Consumer Credit Counseling or Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University workshops.  But often money troubles are just the start.

"Often times by the time it's financial problems, they've also got several other problems like marriage problems, depression or anxiety," Heerts said.

But more companies are reaching out to let workers know they don't have to deal with their problems alone.

"Every month they are struggling with their bills and the bills outweigh the income and it's a monthly or daily struggle for them and they don't have to; there are ways to get it under control. Sometimes people need some education to help them do that," Heerts said.

Half of human resource managers say that money problems have raised employee stress levels and many are missing more work and in some cases, it is affecting their health.