HR, pay, and benefits provider Zellis has revealed a deepening financial crisis in UK and Irish workplaces, with 92 per cent of employees reporting financial stress or worry in the past year. The findings, published in the Financial Wellbeing Report 2025, underscore a significant challenge for businesses, as 89 per cent of those surveyed said the stress had negatively impacted their working lives.
The research urges employers to treat financial wellbeing not as a simple perk but as a business-critical imperative, noting that employee financial resilience is essential for both individual health and overall business growth. Even business leaders are feeling the strain, with only 12 per cent reporting they are unaffected by money worries.
The cost of financial anxiety
Financial stress is directly affecting productivity and communication across organisations. Almost half of the employees surveyed agreed that financial anxiety made it harder to concentrate at work, and more than a quarter acknowledged it made them less productive. The problem extends to leadership, with 38 per cent of business leaders saying financial worries had made them less able to communicate effectively with their teams.
The report reinforces the government’s recent focus on the role of employers in health and wellbeing, highlighting that organisations are uniquely positioned to make a difference. Data shows that providing proactive support yields measurable improvements: 54 per cent of employees with access to financial wellbeing tools expect their finances to improve in the coming year, compared to 43 per cent of employees overall. Furthermore, 78 per cent of employees said they contribute more to the business when they feel confident about their finances.
New tools for financial fitness
To address this silent crisis, Zellis has introduced an update to its HCM and Pay platform, launching Zellis Financial Wellbeing. This suite of tools is designed to give employees greater control and clarity over their pay and finances.
Gethin Nadin, chief innovation officer at Zellis and a chartered psychologist, commented that the cost-of-living crisis has exposed the fragility of household finances and the limitations of traditional employer support. “Financial wellbeing of employees is no longer a peripheral concern – it is a business-critical imperative,” Nadin explained, urging employers to act out of necessity for their own survival.
The new platform features include:
- Intelligent Payslips: AI-enabled payslips that decode complex pay information, helping employees understand salary variations, tax adjustments, and overtime.
- Earned Wage Access (EWA): Payroll integration that allows employees to access up to 50 per cent of earned wages via their mobile phones, which Zellis notes leads to a 70 per cent reduction in overdraft fees among regular users.
- Personalised Financial Education: Tailored resources designed to build long-term financial literacy and confidence.
Abigail Vaughan, CEO at Zellis, said that employers must stop seeing financial wellbeing as a cost and instead realise it is a crucial driver of growth. “Employee financial wellbeing should be the concern of every member of the C-suite, not simply the concern of HR and People teams,” she said, stressing that financial fitness is core to allowing people to reach their full potential.
