No matter what business you’re in or how many people work for you, your employees are likely among your key assets. Your business probably wouldn’t be successful without them. And your business functions best when they are at their best.

Through research carried out in 2014, Manulife has established that there is a strong relationship between personal financial wellness, physical and emotional health, and productivity. We are of the view that to keep employees engaged, and to keep productivity optimal, employees need to be physically and emotionally healthy, and they need to be financially well, too.

In 2015 Manulife commissioned Environics Research Group to survey 2,004 individuals to gain a better understanding of Canadians’ financial wellness levels. The results were eye opening.

The survey showed that while 28% of respondents felt they had a high level of financial wellness and just over one-quarter (27%) felt they had a medium level of financial wellness, almost half (45%) identified themselves as having a low level of financial wellness. This alarming statistic manifests itself in numerous ways, including a lack of retirement readiness, inadequate financial protection in case of unforeseen events and high levels of money-related stress.

Digging deeper into the segment of respondents with a low level of financial wellness, nearly half (45%) of them felt distracted at work because of financial worries. Our previous researchi has identified that distracted employees, or employees who are not engaged in their work, have lower rates of productivity, which can negatively affect business’ bottom line. This leads us to believe that disengaged employees are also less attached to their organization and therefore more likely to be lured away by other employers, which increases a company’s costs for employee searches, hiring and training.

Financial support and education, well beyond retirement education, could go a long way toward improving the financial wellness of your employees. That means helping employees holistically — from savings to debt to insurance. For some employers, the workplace can be an ideal spot to deliver the tools that allow employees to achieve improved financial wellness for themselves, thereby becoming more engaged in their work and boosting the bottom line of the organization they work for, too.

What is Financial Wellness?

Financial wellness is not measured by the amount of money in a person’s investment accounts or the years they have left to pay off their mortgage. A person who has a high level of financial wellness is confident about a wide range of issues that make up their financial life, including budgeting, retirement plans, investments, debts and insurance.

It’s quite possible for a person to have a high income but a low level of financial wellness. It could be that these high earners aren’t planning for the future, they’re not working toward paying off their debts or they’re constantly worried about money.

Conversely, it’s quite possible for a person to have a lower income and a high level of financial wellness. A young person who is just starting out in their career, for instance, isn’t earning a high salary but can feel confident about their finances because they’ve educated themselves, asked for advice, created a workable budget and started saving for retirement.

Our survey found that financial wellness seems to have some momentum to it. If a person demonstrated a high level of financial wellness in one area they tended to have a high level of financial wellness in the other areas as well.

For instance, among the respondents who had an overall high level of financial wellness, 99% also scored well for budgeting, 61% scored well for retirement planning, 100% scored well for debt management and 76% scored well for stress management.

This shows that once a person has committed to addressing one aspect of their financial life, they will likely address the others as well, resulting in overall good financial health. Employers benefit from helping their employees get educated about finances and making that first step toward financial wellness because, as a result, employees will become less anxious about money and more engaged at work.

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