New research from TELUS Health shows that 64% of US workers are anxious about money, with financial pressure increasingly spilling over into workplace productivity and mental health. The latest TELUS Mental Health Index, based on a survey of 5,000 employed US adults, found one in nine workers never stops worrying about their finances, while 15% say personal financial stress directly impaired their productivity at work over the previous three months. Another 10% report difficulty concentrating at work because of financial pressure, while 3% have missed work entirely as a result.
The findings add to growing evidence that financial insecurity is not simply a personal concern but a workforce issue with implications for employee wellbeing, absence, productivity and organisational performance. As Fair Play Talksreported earlier this year, more than half of workers surveyed could not afford an unexpected $500 emergency from their savings, with financial pressure already affecting workplace performance.
COST OF LIVING: THE BIGGEST FINANCIAL WORRY
The cost of living is by far the biggest. More than half (58%) of US workers cite everyday living costs as their leading financial concern, compared with 12% primarily worried about retirement savings and 9% concerned about emergency savings
Workers over 50, however, have different priorities. They are two-and-a-half times more likely than workers under 40 to identify retirement savings as their main financial concern.
“For the large majority of US workers, survival has eclipsed long-term planning. Fifteen percent of workers report that personal financial stress is directly hurting their work productivity, while three percent have missed work entirely due to financial strain,” stated Paula Allen, Global Leader of Research and Insights at TELUS Health.
“These financial anxieties coupled with a lack of support resources creates operational costs for employers, highlighting how employee financial health and workplace psychological safety are directly linked across the US labour market.”
The findings echo recent research which found that almost one in five Gen X workers expect never to fully retire as financial pressures mount. That survey revealed that 58% of Gen X workers said their income only just covered – or failed to cover – their expenses, while 61% felt less financially secure than they expected to be at this stage of their lives.
LACK OF EMERGENCY SAVINGS HITS PRODUCTIVITY
Financial resilience appears to have a particularly strong relationship with people’s ability to function effectively at work. Almost one-quarter (23%) of US employees surveyed by TELUS Health lack emergency savings sufficient to cover basic needs. Workers without an emergency fund are three times more likely to report declines in workplace productivity than employees with a financial safety net.
The finding reinforces separate research, which found that 55% of workers surveyed could not cover an unexpected $500 emergency expense from savings. That study also found 26% had no emergency savings at all, while 37% had increased their credit-card debt and one-quarter had reduced, paused, borrowed from or withdrawn retirement savings.
Together, the findings suggest that a lack of financial resilience can create a cycle in which money worries contribute to stress and distraction, which in turn can affect people’s performance and wellbeing at work.
FINANCIALLY STRESSED WORKERS REPORT POORER MENTAL HEALTH
The TELUS Health research reveals a substantial mental-health divide between financially secure and insecure workers. Employees who report always feeling anxious about money score just 43.0 on the TELUS Mental Health Index, placing them in the distressed range.
That is 27.1 points below the US national average of 70.1 and 47.3 points below workers who never experience money anxiety. Overall, financially insecure workers score 52.3, compared with 78.2 among financially secure workers – a difference of 25.9 points. Employees whose productivity has been directly affected by financial stress also score significantly lower: 50.6 compared with 76.3 among unaffected employees, a 25.7-point gap.
The findings reinforce a broader pattern identified by Fair Play Talks during Stress Awareness Month 2026, when research across the UK and US showed workers facing sustained pressure from burnout, AI-related job insecurity and financial stress. Financial pressure may also influence whether people take time away from work when they are unwell. Previous research found three in four employees had worked while physically or mentally unwell, while 62% said they felt unable to discuss their mental health at work.
YOUNGER WORKERS FACE GREATER PRODUCTIVITY IMPACT
Financial stress is not affecting all workers equally. Employees under the age of 40 are three times more likely than workers over 50 to report decreased productivity because of financial stress. That does not necessarily mean older employees are more financially secure. Rather, the nature of financial pressure appears to change throughout people’s working lives.
For younger workers, housing costs, debt, childcare and everyday living expenses may dominate. For older employees, the prospect of funding retirement becomes increasingly significant. Separate UK research found that financial insecurity is forcing many older employees to remain in work for longer, even as age discrimination can make it harder for them to access and remain in suitable employment.
MANAGERS AND CARERS PARTICULARLY EXPOSED
Family responsibilities create another significant divide. Working parents are twice as likely as non-parents to experience productivity losses stemming from financial strain Managers are also 60% more likely than non-managers to report productivity losses related to financial pressure. The findings are particularly striking for employees supporting other family members
More than one-quarter (27%) of the US workforce provides financial support or care to adult relatives. That includes 14% supporting adult children, 9% supporting ageing parents and 4% supporting other adult family members. Among these workers, 34% say their caring or financial responsibilities negatively affect their personal finances, while 27% report a negative impact on their mental health and 13% experience decreased work productivity.
The findings highlight how financial wellbeing, caring responsibilities and workplace wellbeing can become deeply interconnected. For employers, that means recognising that a worker supporting an adult child, an ageing parent or several generations simultaneously (also known as the sandwich generation) may face pressures that are largely invisible at work,as reported.
FINANCIAL WELLBEING’S GENDER DIMENSION
Financial pressure can intersect with existing workplace inequalities. Previous US research found a widening financial-wellness gap, with 53% of men reporting good financial wellness compared with only 36% of women. The same research found 76% of workers believed the cost of living was rising faster than their salary or wages.
Separate global research has also linked the gender pay gap with heightened financial anxiety among women professionals. That study found 50% of women globally experienced financial anxiety compared with 41% of men, with particularly significant differences among younger women in some countries.
The evidence suggests employers need to avoid treating financial wellbeing as a uniform experience. Pay, age, gender, caring responsibilities and life stage can all influence the financial pressures employees face.
LACK OF BENEFITS UNDERSTANDING
Providing workplace benefits is also not enough if employees do not understand how to use them. TELUS Health found 46% of employees contributing to a workplace retirement or savings programme do not have a strong understanding of how it works.
The 3% who say they do not understand their programme at all score 54.2 on the Mental Health Index, compared with 76.7 among employees who understand their plan very well – a difference of 22.5 points. At the same time, almost half (49%) of US employees actively want their employer to provide resources, communication or support around retirement, pensions or savings.
Among the specific financial topics employees want help with, 29% want retirement or long-term savings support; 21% want information about investing; 20% want help understanding workplace pension or savings plans; 17% want tax-planning information; 16% want support around emergency savings; 15% want information about insurance or financial protection; 13% want debt-management support; and 10% want budgeting guidance.
The findings reinforce an argument employers and HR organisations have been making for several years. Back in 2021, the CIPD called on employers to take greater responsibility for employee financial wellbeing, highlighting the connection between money worries, health and workplace performance.
Another piece of research established a clear relationship between employee financial wellbeing and productivity. Separate research has also suggested that financial wellbeing support can reduce employee turnover by around a third, strengthening the business case for employers to look beyond salary when considering financial health.
MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA REMAINS A BARRIER
Financial pressure is only part of the picture revealed by the TELUS Health Index. Workplace psychological safety also appears to influence whether employees feel able to seek support when they are struggling.
Only 49% of US workers feel comfortable telling their manager if they have a mental health issue. Another 30% would not feel comfortable disclosing a mental health problem, while 22% are unsure. Employees who would not feel comfortable disclosing a mental health issue score 63.1 on the Mental Health Index, compared with 74.6 among those who would feel comfortable – an 11.5-point difference.
The disclosure problem is not confined to the US. Recent research found that 76% of SME employers globally were not fully confident their employees would disclose a mental-health issue at work.
That study raised an important question for employers: support may exist on paper, but do employees actually feel psychologically safe enough to use it? Nor is psychological safety necessarily experienced equally across the workforce. Previous US research found Black workers faced greater barriers to accessing and discussing mental-health support at work, highlighting how identity, inclusion, workplace culture and people’s experiences of leadership can shape their willingness to seek help.
HOW STIGMA PREVENTS PEOPLE SEEKING SUPPORT
The reluctance to disclose difficulties extends beyond mental health. As Fair Play Talks has previously explored, addiction can remain hidden in workplaces precisely because employees fear stigma, judgement and potential consequences for their careers. The TELUS Health Index found that substance use affects work performance for more than 40% of employees struggling with it.
Yet significant barriers remain to seeking help. Stigma or embarrassment is cited by 23%; cost or financial barriers by 22%; confidentiality concerns by 20%; and fear of having to tell somebody at work by 18%. Another 24% say they would prefer to handle substance-use issues on their own.
The findings underline the importance of confidentiality and psychological safety when employers design workplace wellbeing programmes. They also reinforce the need to view addiction as a health and responsible-business issue rather than simply a disciplinary one.
HIGH MENTAL-HEALTH RISKS
The overall US TELUS Mental Health Index score for the second quarter of 2026 stands at 70.1. TELUS Health categorises scores between 80 and 100 as optimal mental health, 50 to 79 as strained and 0 to 49 as distressed.
Across the US workforce surveyed, 23% are considered at high mental-health risk, 42% at moderate risk and 35% at low risk. Anxiety, with a score of 63.5, and isolation, at 66.4, remain the lowest mental-health sub-scores, continuing a six-year trend in which they have been major drivers of workforce psychological risk.
WHAT EMPLOYERS SHOULD DO NEXT
The findings make a strong case for treating financial wellbeing as part of workforce strategy rather than simply an optional employee benefit.
Make financial wellbeing practical
Benefits have limited value if employees do not understand them. With 46% of workers contributing to retirement or savings programmes lacking a strong understanding of how those schemes work, employers should examine whether communications are clear, accessible and relevant to employees at different stages of their lives. Financial education should help people understand the benefits already available to them without straying into inappropriate personal financial advice.
Recognise that financial stress affects work
Employers cannot solve the wider cost-of-living crisis. But neither should they assume financial pressure stops when employees arrive at work. The evidence linking money anxiety with concentration, absence, mental health and productivity makes financial wellbeing a legitimate workforce concern.
Tailor support to different life stages
There is no single employee financial-wellbeing experience. Younger workers may be struggling with rent, debt or the cost of establishing independent lives. Parents may face childcare and household costs. Carers may be supporting several generations. Older workers may be increasingly worried about retirement security. Employers should listen to their own workforce rather than assuming one financial-wellbeing programme will meet everybody’s needs.
Look at pay and financial wellbeing together
Financial education cannot compensate for inadequate or inequitable pay. Employers should consider financial wellbeing alongside fair pay, pay equity, benefits, progression and job security, particularly where existing inequalities leave some groups more financially vulnerable than others.
Support working carers
Employees supporting children, ageing parents or other relatives may face both financial and emotional strain. Flexible working, carers’ policies, appropriate leave and clear signposting to available benefits and support can help prevent caring responsibilities from becoming a hidden driver of burnout or labour-market exit.
Build psychological safety
Only around half of workers feel comfortable disclosing a mental-health problem to their manager. Employers should examine whether employees genuinely believe they can ask for support without being judged, disadvantaged or damaging their career prospects. Confidentiality is particularly important when employees are dealing with mental health, financial hardship or substance-use problems.
Make support inclusive
Not every employee experiences the workplace – or feels able to seek help – in the same way. Employers should examine whether wellbeing services are trusted and accessible across different demographic groups rather than assuming that simply providing a programme creates equal access to it.
Train managers to recognise signs of stress
Managers can play an important role in recognising when someone is struggling, listening appropriately and signposting support. They should not be expected to diagnose mental-health or substance-use conditions or provide individual financial advice. Employers need clear referral pathways to qualified financial, wellbeing, mental-health and addiction-support resources.
Measure benefit uptake
A long list of employee benefits does not necessarily indicate an effective wellbeing strategy. Employers should examine awareness, understanding, accessibility and uptake – and ask employees whether the support being provided actually addresses the pressures they face.
WHY THIS MATTERS FOR RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS
Financial wellbeing has sometimes been treated as a personal matter that sits outside an employer’s responsibility. The growing body of evidence makes that distinction increasingly difficult to sustain.
Money worries are associated with poorer mental health, reduced concentration, lower productivity and absence. They intersect with gender inequality, caring responsibilities, age, retirement security and employees’ willingness to disclose when they are struggling.
Employers cannot control inflation, housing costs or the wider economic environment. But they do control important parts of employees’ working lives: pay, benefits, job security, flexibility, workplace culture, management and access to support.
Financial wellbeing therefore should not be reduced to another app, webinar or benefit. A responsible approach means ensuring people are paid fairly, understand the benefits available to them, have access to appropriate support and feel psychologically safe enough to ask for help when they need it.
It also means recognising that the people most in need of support may be the least comfortable asking for it. As financial pressure continues to follow employees through the workplace door, supporting financial wellbeing is becoming inseparable from supporting workforce wellbeing – and, increasingly, business performance.
