Debt management in workplace alleviates soaring cost of absenteeism

Posted 2007-12-14

AXA insurance spokesman, Steve Folkard stated, “Money is one of the major causes of stress for adults and as such it is a major cause of employee absenteeism. Encouraging adults to take greater control of their finances could actually go some way to reducing not only the UK’s levels of personal debt, but also the cost of stress.”

Mr. Folkard also claimed that employees already waste more than three hours a month chatting and sending text messages.

But concerns about personal finance and debt have resulted in an annual expense of nearly £10 billion to the UK economy. According to Axa, £9.6 billion is the new estimate in costs associated with employees taking time off to manage their finances.

However, allowing workers to focus on their own finances for one hour during business hours, could greatly alleviate the loss of employee absenteeism and the costs associated with the loss of productivity, the firm asserts.

Employees facing serious financial concerns tend to be more easily distracted and less capable of focusing attention on their tasks. Conversely, when individuals feel in control of their financial lives; focus, clarity and creativity tend to rise substantially along with better over-all health - which further reduces worker’s absenteeism.

The Office of Fair Trading asserts that two-thirds of Britons who had obtained a debt consolidation loan, did so without consulting more than one lender. And having the extra time during the day to research and manage personal financial issues could reduce the cost of repayments as a whole.

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