Financial fragility impacting UK’s productivity

Key findings:
• Four in 10 workers (40%) say money worries have made them feel stressed over the last year
• More than a quarter (27%) of workers are at the tipping point financially
• A quarter (25%) say they have lost sleep over money worries
• Nearly 50% of workers (48%) are not putting any money aside for anything more than regular bills.

The report’s author, Katie Evans, SMF Economist, says: “The UK’s workforce lacks financial resilience. It’s clearly affecting our ability to concentrate at work and blunting our productivity.

“This low financial resilience is a problem across industries – and it’s getting worse. The proportion of workers reporting that they face financial difficulties nearly doubled over the decade to 2013/14.

“These money worries have a clear impact on how people feel and behave as they go about their day-to-day lives and jobs.”