News reports today about the ‘UK cash system on the verge of collapse’ will have an impact on employees, according to Monica Kalia, co-founder of Neyber and board member of StepChange, the debt charity. She says the issues raised in the Access to Cash Review, which suggests 8 million people will struggle to manage their finances, means that employers must be aware of the very real impact this will have on employees.
Monica Kalia said:
“Traditionally, people only engage with money when an event requires it, for example, paying bills or mortgages, or when a life event happens.
“The issue only increases with a cashless society as it’s likely they’ll interact even less with their finances. From coffees to cars, we can buy just about anything these days with a tap or an online click, so it’s even more imperative that people get to know their finances far better. Unfortunately, too many people don’t.
“One of biggest opportunities to improve financial literacy is undoubtedly through the use of technology.
“And employed or not employed, it is critically important that the segment of society highlighted in highlighted the report are not left behind due to lack access.”
Independent research carried out among 10,000 UK employees and 500 employers for Neyber found that 45% of HR people said that they believe employees don’t bring their financial concerns into the workplace. Yet the same research showed that 35% of employees say they have felt stressed, 26% have lost sleep, 20% have felt depressed, 10% struggle to focus at work and 6% have missed a day at work, specifically because of financial worries. Of these, 40% say the issue creates a negative impact on relationships at work.
