Understanding the Importance of Financial Wellness for Employees
Financial wellness is a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of employee well-being. Employee financial health is at a 10-year low, and 57% of workers say money issues are their number one source of stress.
It’s easy to see why. In U.S. households in 2022:
- 37% would have to borrow money or sell something to cover a $400 emergency
- 66% had to use less of a product or stop using it due to price increases
- 28% had to forgo some form of medical care because they couldn’t afford it
With these problems hanging over them, employees can’t stay engaged and focused at work. More than 40% of U.S. workers reported having trouble focusing at work because of their financial concerns. In their personal lives, financial stress can cause significant mental and physical health issues, from headaches and body aches to severe depression and anxiety.
Understanding the deep impact financial stress has on both personal well-being and job performance is the first step toward addressing these challenges. By recognizing the issues and providing financial wellness solutions as part of your employee benefits package, you can help workers regain control over their finances, improve their health, and ultimately enhance productivity in the workplace.
Why Financial Wellness Matters for Your Employees
Financial security is a fundamental pillar of an employee's overall well-being. It affects their ability to manage day-to-day expenses and their mental and physical health, job satisfaction, and long-term stability.
Need for Financial Security
Employees need financial security to feel empowered and capable of reaching their personal and professional goals. Workers with a solid grasp of their finances can plan for the future, make informed decisions, and maintain control over their lives.
More than 30% of U.S. adults say they’re “just getting by financially.” Financially secure employees aren’t just getting by – they’re thriving, fully engaged, and contributing at their highest potential.
Physical Effects of Financial Stress
Financial stress can severely impact your employees' physical health.
- Headaches & Migraines: Persistent stress often leads to frequent headaches and migraines.
- Weakened Immune System: Ongoing stress weakens the immune system, making employees more prone to illness.
- High Blood Pressure: Financial anxiety can cause a sustained rise in blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart-related issues.
- Digestive Problems: Stress disrupts digestive functions, leading to discomfort and long-term gastrointestinal issues.
- Muscle Tension: Chronic stress keeps muscles tense, causing pain and discomfort in daily activities.
- Sleep Issues: Financial worries often lead to insomnia, poor sleep quality, and lower productivity at work.
Overall Impact: These health issues diminish employees’ quality of life and directly affect their work performance and attendance.
Your Role: By supporting financial wellness, you create a healthier, more focused, and engaged workforce. Help your employees discover financial wellness with IDIQ.
The Impact of Financial Stress on Personal and Professional Life
Financial stress reaches far beyond the paycheck, touching nearly every part of your employees' lives. It undermines their health, reduces their effectiveness at work, and disrupts their overall sense of well-being. Recognizing the full extent of this impact is key to offering meaningful support and fostering a more resilient workforce.
Personal Impact
Prolonged financial stress can lead to significant health issues, including both physical and mental conditions like anxiety, depression, and chronic stress-related disorders. These issues don’t just diminish employees' quality of life, they also hinder their ability to function effectively both at work and at home.
Physical Health Issues
Financial stress manifests physically in several debilitating ways, all of which take a significant toll on employees' overall well-being:
- Headaches & Migraines: Persistent stress often triggers frequent headaches and migraines. These can start as a dull ache that intensifies throughout the day, sometimes accompanied by sensitivity to light or nausea. The constant pressure in the head can make even routine tasks feel overwhelming, leading to a cycle of pain and tension.
- Weakened Immune System: Chronic stress gradually wears down the immune system, making the body less capable of fighting off common colds, infections, and other illnesses. Employees might get sick more often, and minor illnesses can linger longer than usual as they struggle to recover.
- High Blood Pressure: Financial anxiety can lead to a sustained increase in blood pressure, often without any noticeable symptoms until more serious health issues arise. Over time, this silent condition can cause hypertension, increasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular problems.
- Digestive Problems: Stress can severely disrupt the digestive system, leading to issues such as stomach cramps, bloating, constipation, and other gastrointestinal problems.
- Muscle Tension: Chronic stress keeps muscles in a state of tension, leading to persistent pain in the neck, shoulders, and back. This tension can also manifest as clenched jaws or grinding teeth, leading to further discomfort, headaches, or even dental issues over time.
- Sleep Issues: Financial worries often make it difficult to fall or stay asleep throughout the night. Employees might lie awake, their thoughts racing, only to drift into a fitful sleep. This pattern leads to waking up feeling tired and unrefreshed, contributing to chronic sleep deprivation and fatigue.
Mental Health Concerns
Financial stress is a powerful trigger for mental health issues, with anxiety and depression being two of the most common outcomes. Anxiety often begins as a feeling of unease that never fully subsides. For some employees, this anxiety can escalate into full-blown panic attacks, where the stress becomes overwhelming, leading to shortness of breath, a racing heart, and a sense of impending doom.
Depression, on the other hand, can creep in slowly. What starts as a general feeling of sadness or fatigue can deepen into a profound sense of hopelessness. Employees may begin to lose interest in activities they once enjoyed, withdraw from social interactions, and struggle to find motivation even for routine tasks. This emotional weight can be paralyzing, making it difficult to get out of bed in the morning or muster the energy to face the workday.
Unhealthy Habits
When financial stress becomes unbearable, many people turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms as a way to manage their anxiety. Some might find temporary solace in a pack of cigarettes, smoking more frequently as the stress intensifies. However, this habit not only harms their lungs but also becomes a crutch that they increasingly rely on as the stress persists.
Others might seek comfort in food, particularly in unhealthy junk food. After a long, stressful day, the allure of fast food, sugary snacks, or late-night binges can seem irresistible. These eating habits provide a fleeting sense of comfort and distraction but often lead to weight gain, digestive issues, and a deepened sense of dissatisfaction with one’s health and appearance.
For some, the escape from financial worries comes in the form of alcohol or other substances. A drink after work might seem harmless at first, but as financial stress mounts, what was once an occasional drink can turn into a nightly ritual, or worse, a dependency. This kind of substance use offers only temporary relief, masking the stress while creating new problems like addiction, impaired judgment, and further deterioration of mental and physical health.
These unhealthy habits create a vicious cycle where the very actions taken to cope with stress end up amplifying it, leading to more significant health issues and deeper emotional turmoil.
A Cycle of Health Decline and Financial Pressure
The combination of these physical and mental health issues, coupled with unhealthy coping habits, creates a vicious cycle that’s hard to escape. As employees’ health deteriorates, their financial problems often worsen due to increased medical expenses or time off work.
Professional Impact
The effects of financial stress extend well beyond personal health, seeping into the workplace and significantly degrading job performance. Employees preoccupied with financial worries often find it difficult to concentrate, leading to a noticeable decline in productivity. The mental burden of financial stress can make even routine tasks seem overwhelming, causing employees to struggle with decision-making and problem-solving.
Decreased Productivity and Focus
When financial concerns dominate an employee's thoughts, their ability to focus on work diminishes. This distraction can lead to missed deadlines, decreased quality of work, and an overall decline in output.
For example, a project manager who once excelled at juggling multiple tasks may now find even simple decisions overwhelming, while a customer service representative, preoccupied with unpaid bills, struggles to muster the patience and positivity needed to handle customer calls.
Increased Absenteeism
Financial stress often forces employees to take unscheduled days off, whether to address financial emergencies or because the stress has worn them down to the point of illness. On average, absenteeism costs businesses $3,600 per year for each hourly worker and $2,650 each year for salaried employees.
Absenteeism also causes issues that are less obvious than the direct financial impact. When key team members are absent, others must step in to cover their duties. This repeated cycle of covering for absent coworkers disrupts workflows and fosters resentment and burnout among the remaining staff. In some cases, there may be no one available to take over their responsibilities, leaving critical work unfinished.
Higher Employee Turnover
Persistent financial stress often pushes employees to seek jobs elsewhere, especially if they feel unsupported by their current employer. Workers with financial wellness concerns are twice as likely to be looking for a new job. This turnover is particularly costly for organizations, with the average cost per hire estimated at $4,700, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
These expenses quickly add up when considering the direct costs of hiring and training new employees, along with the indirect costs related to lost knowledge and decreased morale among remaining staff.
Increased Errors and Safety Risks
Employees under financial stress are more likely to make mistakes because their focus is divided. In high-risk environments, this divided focus directly increases the likelihood of accidents or errors, potentially endangering both the stressed employee, their coworkers, and customers. Even small errors can have significant consequences in fields like healthcare, manufacturing, or transportation, where precision and attention to detail are crucial.
Impaired Team Dynamics and Morale
Financial stress doesn’t just affect individual employees – it can disrupt the entire team. Stressed employees may be less cooperative, more irritable, and less engaged in team activities or collaboration. For example, a usually collaborative team member may withdraw, causing friction and slowing down projects.
This can strain relationships and lower overall morale, making it harder for the team to work together effectively. Even one stressed employee can impact the team’s cohesion, leading to a less positive and productive work environment.
A Vicious Cycle
The professional impact of financial stress often sets off a vicious cycle. As employees' health and job performance decline due to stress, they may encounter additional financial challenges, like higher medical expenses or lost income from missed work. These pressures can further deteriorate their well-being and productivity, making it even harder to break the cycle without outside support.
Financial Stress by the Numbers
The scale of financial stress among employees is evident in the high levels of household debt across the United States. These staggering figures from the National Federal Reserve Bank of New York show just how widespread financial stress is:
- Total Household Debt: $17.3 trillion
- Average Debt per American: $104,215
- Average Credit Card Debt: $7,951
Given the significant impact of financial stress, it’s no surprise that 93% of employees want their employers to offer financial planning and advisory services.
Unfortunately, only 28% of companies currently provide these essential benefits. This gap presents a real opportunity for forward-thinking employers to make a meaningful difference in their employees' lives by integrating financial wellness programs into their benefits packages.
How Employers Can Support Financial Wellness with IDIQ
Comprehensive Solutions
Supporting your employees' financial wellness starts with the right partnership. By choosing IDIQ, you can enhance your employee benefits package with a comprehensive suite of solutions that go beyond the basics.
Elevate Your Benefits Package
Partnering with IDIQ allows you to transform your employee benefits package into a powerful tool for enhancing overall well-being. By offering a range of tailored financial solutions, from AI-driven budgeting insights to live debt coaching, you provide employees with the resources they need to take control of their finances. This comprehensive support not only meets diverse employee needs but also strengthens your organization’s appeal, making it easier to attract and retain top talent.
Holistic Approach
IDIQ’s holistic approach seamlessly combines essential financial wellness tools with identity theft protection and legal assistance into a single, unified plan. This all-encompassing coverage provides personalized financial insights, actionable steps to achieve financial goals, and real-time security measures, ensuring your employees feel secure, supported, and focused at work.
Empower Smarter Decisions
IDIQ empowers your employees by providing clear, actionable insights into their financial health. With tools like AI-powered budgeting, personalized debt payoff plans, and live expert financial coaching, employees can take confident steps toward financial stability. Whether it’s syncing their accounts for a comprehensive financial overview or receiving personalized offers tailored to their needs, these resources help reduce financial stress and boost workplace engagement.
Benefits of Partnering with IDIQ
Partnering with IDIQ brings a range of valuable benefits tailored to meet the needs of brokers, HR professionals, and employees alike. By integrating IDIQ's comprehensive solutions into your benefits package, you enhance employee engagement, improve retention, and differentiate your offerings in a competitive market.
For Brokers
Brokers face the ongoing challenge of delivering value to clients while finding ways to boost their own revenue streams. Offering comprehensive, innovative solutions is key to standing out and retaining clients.
- Commission Revenue: Partnering with IDIQ allows you to increase your commissions by offering a suite of high-demand benefits. This partnership helps you expand your revenue streams by providing your clients with valuable services that enhance employee financial security.
- Retention & Satisfaction: Offering IDIQ’s leading benefits directly boosts employee well-being, helping you reduce turnover rates and increase job satisfaction. When employees feel supported in managing their finances, they are more likely to stay with their employer, fostering long-term loyalty that benefits both you and your clients.
- Differentiation: You can stand out in a crowded marketplace by offering IDIQ’s unique three-in-one solution, which includes financial wellness, identity theft protection, and legal services. This comprehensive package sets you apart from competitors, making your offerings more attractive to prospective clients.
- Business Growth: Expand your portfolio with IDIQ’s innovative solutions and attract new clients seeking comprehensive, forward-thinking benefits packages. By offering these advanced solutions, you position yourself as a leader in the benefits space, driving growth for your business.
For HR Professionals
HR professionals attract and retain top talent while managing the complexities of benefits administration. They must balance employee well-being with organizational efficiency to maintain a productive and satisfied workforce. IDIQ helps HR professionals achieve these goals through:
- A User-Friendly Platform: We simplify benefit administration with a user-friendly platform that saves time and reduces complexity. This efficiency allows HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than getting bogged down in the details of managing multiple benefits systems.
- Attracting and Retaining Talent: In a competitive job market, offering valuable benefits helps you attract and retain the best candidates. IDIQ’s comprehensive coverage addresses key stressors, such as financial insecurity, making your company a top choice for talent.
- Enhanced Support: IDIQ provides enhanced support that helps employees manage their financial lives more effectively, improving their overall well-being and job satisfaction, promoting morale and retention.
- Proven Success: With a proven track record since 2009 and more than 4 million members, IDIQ gives you the confidence to offer reliable and effective solutions.
Learn More About Our Solutions
For Employees
Financial stress impacts employees’ overall well-being and job performance. Access to robust financial tools and support is crucial for helping them achieve security and peace of mind. We offer:
- Value-Added Security: Employees benefit from real-time credit monitoring backed by $1 million in identity theft insurance, underwritten by AIG. This level of protection offers peace of mind, knowing that their financial identity is secure.
- Comprehensive Legal Solutions: IDIQ provides access to customizable legal documents, attorney consultations, and reduced rates, giving employees comprehensive legal support when they need it most. This benefit ensures that employees have the legal resources necessary to navigate life’s challenges.
- Financial Coaching: Employees also benefit from expert financial coaching, which provides them with the tools and resources needed to overcome financial challenges and plan for a secure future. This personalized guidance helps employees manage their finances more effectively, improving their financial health and overall well-being.
- Unmatched Coverage: With IDIQ, employees receive valuable financial intelligence and 100% U.S.-based support. This unmatched coverage ensures that employees are well-informed and empowered to make the best decisions for their financial well-being, contributing to their overall security and satisfaction.
How to Get Started with Financial Wellness Programs
Implementing a financial wellness program is a strategic move that can significantly benefit your organization. However, the key to success lies in starting with a solid foundation. Here’s how you can begin:
Initial Steps
Start by evaluating your current benefits package to identify any gaps in your financial wellness offerings. Understanding where your employees might need additional support allows you to tailor your program effectively.
Once you’ve identified these gaps, introduce financial literacy resources and certified financial coaches from IDIQ. These professionals provide personalized guidance, helping employees navigate their unique financial challenges and make informed decisions.
Key Practices to Promote
To ensure your financial wellness program is comprehensive and effective, incorporate these key practices that promote financial health among your employees:
- Budget Wisely: Encourage employees to track and manage their spending. Providing tools and resources for budgeting helps them take control of their finances and avoid unnecessary debt.
- Build Savings: 60% of households have less than three months of savings on hand, which is often not enough to get by when a crisis strikes. Emphasize the importance of creating and maintaining an emergency fund. This financial safety net can prevent minor setbacks from becoming major financial crises.
- Legal and Debt Management: Offer guidance on creating trusts and managing debt. Providing access to legal advice and debt management tools helps employees plan for the future and manage their obligations responsibly.
- Long-Term Planning: Equip your team with credit-building tools that support long-term financial goals, such as buying a home or planning for retirement.
- Theft Insurance: Ensure employees have adequate coverage for unforeseen events like identity theft. IDIQ’s comprehensive protection plans help safeguard against these risks, providing peace of mind.
Why Choose IDIQ
Choosing IDIQ for your financial wellness program brings significant advantages. Our certified financial coaches offer real, actionable solutions tailored to individual needs. Employees gain access to personalized financial advice, guiding them through everything from everyday budgeting to complex financial decisions.
What sets IDIQ apart is our approach – not just offering a service, but delivering empathy and personalized care to ensure your employees feel truly supported.
💡 Learn More: The Rise of Financial Intelligence: Latest Study from IDIQ Uncovers Key Industry Challenges
Final Thoughts: The Value of Investing in Employee Financial Wellness
Investing in financial wellness programs is not just a benefit but a critical aspect of employee well-being and productivity. Employees with the tools to manage their finances effectively experience less stress, better health, and greater job satisfaction. This leads to higher engagement, loyalty, and overall performance within your workforce.
Employers who prioritize financial wellness build stronger relationships with their employees, creating a more engaged and dedicated team. By addressing financial stress, you show a commitment to your workforce’s holistic well-being, which fosters a positive workplace culture and boosts retention rates.
Integrate IDIQ solutions into your benefits package to enhance employee satisfaction and well-being. Get started with IDIQ today.
What To Do if Your Small Business Has a Data Breach
Running a small business is no small task. Between managing employees, covering expenses, and keeping customers happy, you’re already wearing a variety of hats.
And now you have to add data breach management to the list? Unfortunately, in today’s digital world, cybersecurity threats are a reality small business owners can’t ignore.
Cybercriminals have shifted their focus to smaller, more vulnerable organizations. In fact, 82% of ransomware attacks now target smaller businesses, which often lack the resources, employee training, and safeguards that larger corporations have. That makes them easier targets.
When a data breach occurs, the consequences can be devastating. Up to 60% of small businesses that are targeted in a cyberattack go out of business within six months.
It’s a terrifying statistic, but here’s what matters: in the event of a data breach, there are tried and true steps you can take to mitigate your losses, meet your obligations, and start rebuilding trust with your customers.
In this article, we’ll walk you through what to do immediately following a breach, so that you can get back to business with confidence.
Why Small Businesses Are Prime Targets for Cybersecurity Attacks
In 2023 alone, 350 million people were affected by data breaches. And while cybersecurity attacks can affect companies of any size, small businesses are disproportionately affected.
According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, small businesses account for 43% of all data breaches.
Unfortunately, many of those small businesses are underprepared. A recent study revealed that nearly one quarter of small businesses have no device security, and one in three rely on free or basic solutions that may not offer strong security coverage.
On top of that, many small businesses also admit that their teams are inadequately trained to spot and stop cyberattacks before they spread.
To make matters worse, hacker tactics continue to evolve. From malware to phishing emails, cybersecurity for small businesses continues to get more complex. The chart below shows the most common cyber risks in 2025, including data breaches:
Clearly, there’s plenty of risk to contend with. Without rigid data breach prevention tactics in place, small businesses stand to lose a great deal, and the repercussions can be devastating.
The cost of a small business data breach can vary, but recent research shows cybersecurity incidents can cost small businesses an average of $2.98 million.
Small business data breach statistics are sobering, but there is hope. If your business experiences a data breach, acting quickly is the only way to prevent further damage and protect against long-term fallout.
The First 24 Hours Following a Data Breach: Containment Matters Most
When a data breach occurs, time is your most valuable asset. Waiting even a few hours to begin managing the situation can significantly increase the damage, and in many cases, the clock has already been ticking by the time you discover the problem.
According to IBM research, it takes an average of 277 days to identify and contain a data breach, largely because many go undetected for long periods. Larger organizations typically discover breaches faster than small organizations because they have strong, established cybersecurity practices.
Unfortunately, many small businesses find themselves unprepared to respond quickly, with half of small businesses reporting it took 24 hours or longer to recover their website after a cyberattack.
However, according to an IBM Data Breach Report, businesses that are able to contain a breach within 30 days can save over $1 million, so the sooner you can respond to a data breach, the better.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends critical first steps when a small business data breach occurs.
1. Secure Your Business Quickly
As soon as you’re aware of a breach, focus on containment:
- Hire a data breach response team like IDIQ quickly
- Lock down any affected systems or physical areas
- Remove any exposed information from your website, then request removal from third-party websites or search engines
- Update passwords and any other access credentials
Taking these actions in the first 24 hours limits additional exposure and sets the foundation for recovery.
2. Consider and Address Vulnerabilities
Containing a small business data breach is only the first step, but understanding how it happened is just as critical.
Small businesses often rely on external providers for payroll services, IT support, and other key tasks that they can’t manage internally, meaning vendors could be a significant vulnerability. In fact, a recent study found that 35.5% of breaches in 2024 involved third-party vendors with access to sensitive data.
Review the information your vendors have access to and adjust or revoke privileges as necessary. Be sure you trust their security processes (and verify they make any necessary changes if they were responsible for the breach) before continuing your partnership.
Your Legal Obligations & Notifications
Every state has its own rules regarding how and when a business must notify customers after a data breach. Most require businesses to notify affected individuals within 30 to 60 days. Failing to do so can result in steep fines and lawsuits, and the loss of your customers’ trust.
IT Governance USA offers state-by-state data breach laws so you can understand exactly what’s required in your area.
IDIQ’s data breach response services help take care of breach notification requirements, helping you stay compliant while protecting your business and customers.
Use Identity Theft Protection
While not a legal requirement, adding identity theft protection services can help you better support your customers.
IDIQ’s identity theft protection services provide real-time monitoring, dark web scanning, and fraud restoration services for comprehensive support.
By giving your customers a proactive solution, you can reduce both the cost of the breach, improve customer sentiment, and make the experience less overwhelming.
Communicating a Data Breach to Your Customers
When a data breach occurs, your customers can face some of the worst fallout. Up to 87% of small businesses hold sensitive customer data, ranging from addresses to credit card details, that could be exposed in a breach.
The trickle-down effect of a data breach can impact customers in more ways than one. In 2023, 60% of companies that suffered a data breach were forced to raise their prices to recoup their losses. This means consumers don’t just deal with having their information exposed, but can end up paying the price even long after the breach is over.
When you notify your customers, be sure to let them know:
- What happened and when it occurred
- The data that was (or may have been) exposed
- The steps you’ve already taken to contain the breach
- What your customers can do to protect themselves, such as credit monitoring or identity theft protection
- How you’ll keep them updated moving forward
Be honest and transparent. Share real details, don’t downplay the situation, and let your customers know how your data breach response plan provides them with ongoing protection.
This type of clear, transparent communication shows accountability and can prevent long-term damage to customer trust.
Preventing Your Next Data Breach
There are key steps you can take to prevent future data breaches. The FTC offers 10 simple steps for small businesses to consider:
- Train employees: Up to 47% of businesses with less than 50 employees report having no cybersecurity budget, meaning staff mistakes can quickly turn into unintentional but costly incidents. Create a clear set of rules for passwords and handling sensitive information.
- Protect devices from cyberattacks: Ensure software, browsers, and operating systems are up to date. Run antivirus scans to spot problems quickly.
- Use firewall security: Enable firewalls on all systems to block unauthorized access.
- Consider mobile devices: If your team needs to use mobile devices for work, require password protection, encryption, and security applications. Create a process to report lost or stolen equipment.
- Back up your data: Implement automatic, regular backups of essential files and store them offsite or in a protected cloud network.
- Control access to information: Restrict access to business computers or data, set up individual user accounts with passwords, and limit admin privileges to only essential staff.
- Secure your Wi-Fi: Hide and password-protect Wi-Fi networks to prevent outside access.
- Protect company credit cards: Use anti-fraud tools and isolate your payment systems from general internet use.
- Limit employee access to data: Give employees access only to the tools and/or data essential for their role.
- Strengthen passwords and authentication: Weak or stolen passwords account for 80% of hacking incidents. Require your team to regularly update their passwords and use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an added layer of security.
How IDIQ Can Help You Navigate a Data Breach
A data breach can be devastating for a small business, but how quickly you respond helps determine how your organization recovers. That’s why IDIQ provides comprehensive data breach response plans designed to move quickly.
With advanced monitoring and around-the-clock support for your team members, employees, or customers who have had information exposed in a data breach, you can rest assured you have the help you need to stop the spread of a data breach when you need it.
With IDIQ, you gain access to:
- 24-Hour guaranteed response time, so you get the help you need as fast as possible
- Customized recovery plans built for your business
- Dedicated support so you get the best care tailored to your unique needs
- Customer notification support to help you manage notifying affected people
- Identity theft protection services to help protect affected customers and employees
With nearly two decades of cybersecurity experience, IDIQ can help you navigate the stress, legal obligations, and end-to-end tasks necessary to protect your brand and your customers.
Reach out to IDIQ’s data breach response team today for the support you need to take back control.
