A well-performing employee is what every employer wants. In most companies, there’s generally an imbalance between over achievers and the ones who are merely content with what they do. Then there’s the under performers. The ones that can’t seem to get things right.

Being lazy, not proactive and not wanting to learn are perhaps some of the labels some employers use to describe these folks who do not perform. While it’s a norm for most employers to react that way, do they really understand why some employees under perform?

Reason Employees Under Perform?

According to some experts, employees’ financial issues could be a contributing factor towards their job performance. Money problems may often cause employees to be constantly worrying thus impacting their professional lives to a significant degree. This factors in to an increase in stress among employees, workers’ inability to focus at work as well as absenteeism and tardiness. This means that companies face an increasing amount of wasted time while their team is on the clock.

Employees are also challenged by both supporting their children and aiding elderly parents. Traditionally, employers have viewed their employees’ financial worries as personal issues without much of an impact on the bottom line. Clearly, that position is misguided. Financial stress among employees is taking a toll on productivity for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

A business’ success depends on the personal development and success of its team members. Fortunately, organisations can ease some of that stress by helping employees manage their personal finances and prepare for retirement.

Poor Money Management

One main reason for financial stress is poor money management. If a person has never been taught how to handle money, then they have no way of knowing the dos and don’ts of money management.

Apart from counselling or training sessions, another solution is to provide a financial wellness program.

Employee financial wellness programs can help employees find balance and control over their finances, now and throughout their lifetime. Improving employees’ financial wellness can lead to healthier employees, reduce absenteeism and lower turnover rates while raising employee satisfaction and improving the employer brand. However, for financial wellness programs to be successful they need to do more than just provide education. They need to result in employees taking appropriate actions that lead to financial success.

Employee Financial Wellness

Financial wellness, from an employees' perspective, is a state of financial well-being, where they have minimal financial stress, a strong financial foundation (little or no debt, an emergency savings fund and are living below their means) and a plan they are following that puts them on track to meet future financial goals.

The objective is to help employees reach their goals for every stage of their “financial lives,” whether it’s saving for a house, a car, college, or retirement. An employer’s commitment to offering a financial wellness program to their team is vital to the success of both the company and the employees. Plus, a financial wellness program coincides perfectly with a physical wellness benefit. If a company has committed to providing a benefits package that includes physical wellness, financial wellness will make an excellent addition to the package.

Unless an employer wants to see employees stressed about personal finances, wasting time at work, and being less productive at their job, offering an employee benefits package that includes a financial wellness program only makes sense! With nothing to lose but the stress of a team member’s personal financial problems, it’s the perfect way for a company to show workers that they really do care about their well-being.

This article is contributed by CompareHero.my, Malaysia’s most trusted personal finance comparison site. CompareHero.my is your go-to website for comparing credit cards and personal loans in Malaysia