Blogging for Change

Financial problems on the job

by Kim McGrigg on
1/13/2009
in Personal Finance

Statistics show that people are very reluctant to talk about financial challenges in general and, for a number of reasons, this is particularly true in the workplace. In fact, both employees and employers are reluctant to broach the topic of money. However, it has been proven that the poor personal financial behavior of employees is related to employee productivity.

According to Dr. Tom Garman, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech University, some direct employer costs of employees with poor personal financial behaviors are absenteeism, tardiness, accidents, thefts, and, in some states the expense of handling wage garnishments. For the employee, poor job performance places them at risk of losing necessary income and benefits.

So, what’s the solution? Employers certainly shouldn't go digging into people’s personal lives willy-nilly. I think the answer is to implement an employee fiscal fitness program. As an example, the program offered through MMI includes benefits such as:

  • Free counseling
  • Debt Management Plans (DMP)
  • Educational programs
  • Timely articles for use in employee newsletters
  • Marketing materials, including inserts, brochures and signs
  • Annual training program for the employer’s managers
  • Unique telephone number for employees to use

If you’d like more information about implementing an employee fiscal fitness program, contact MMI's education division. It's a win-win.

Kim McGrigg is the former Manager of Community and Media Relations for MMI.

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