Two thirds of employees are now worried about paying for essentials

As real time pay fails to keep up with rising costs and soaring inflation, employees are increasingly anxious about their financial situation. And employers are failing to keep up according to a new survey from Personio. The poll suggests that over two thirds (69 percent) of employees are worried or stressed about their ability to pay for essentials if the economy worsens over the coming months. A further 22 percent are concerned about losing their job whilst a fifth (20 percent) are worried they will need to take on a second job to support themselves.

But, as money worries mount, many businesses are not prepared to support their employees. Although two fifths (40 percent) of businesses have introduced initiatives to help employees with the rising cost of living, a staggering one in four (24 percent) are not planning to run any initiatives at all.

Where employees are not supported, this could damage motivation and productivity – potentially resulting in people leaving, or “quiet quitting”. Indeed, a quarter (24 percent) of employees surveyed state they are unhappy with their employer and nearly 4 in 10 employees (37 percent) are still planning to look for another job in the next 6-12 months.

While in some businesses, a lack of budget is a key barrier to supporting employees, elsewhere, HR teams are also struggling against a lack of senior support. 42 percent of HR managers cite lack of budget as the main reason for not actively supporting their employees with the cost of living crisis, whilst over a quarter (27 percent) cite a lack of senior support.