Concerns about overall workplace well-being are lower than they were a year ago, according to the results of the 2024 EBRI/Greenwald Research Workplace Wellness Survey.
Researchers interviewed 1,505 American full-time and part-time workers aged 21 to 64 years.
“Concerns around well-being are trending downward, yet half still express at least moderate concern about their financial well-being,” according to the survey authors.
Fewer respondents expressed concern this time around about the economy going into a
recession and affecting their personal finances in the next 12 months (80% compared with 85% in 2023).
Forty-three of this year’s respondents indicated that they believe that the US economy currently is in a recession. Yet fewer respondents than last year reported layoffs or reduced hours (23% compared with 30% in 2023), and fewer reported struggling to manage multiple financial priorities (52% compared with 59% in 2023).
“Further, workers are more likely to be prepared to handle an unexpected expense of $500 than in 2023, and fewer agree that their retirement plan savings are the only significant emergency savings that they have,” according to the report.
Evenso, three-fourths of the respondents noted that they carry a significant amount of debt, mostly from mortgages.
“Of those with credit card debt, many are using their credit cards to purchase necessities rather than luxuries,” the report noted.
Medical debt was closely tied to a health emergency (38%), prescription drugs (38%) or chronic illness (28%). Twenty-six percent of those for whom medical debt was a problem cited mental health as a contributing factor.
More than half of the survey respondents (56%) said they are very or extremely satisfied with their current jobs, 31% said they were somewhat satisfied and 14% said they were not satisfied at all.
“Workers report similar satisfaction with their benefits package as in prior years, with top improvements being a greater employer contribution and financial wellness benefits/resources,” according to the report.
Forty-two percent of the respondents indicated that they would like for their employers to advise them on retirement planning, followed by advice on how to build emergency savings (34%) and how to budget, reduce debt or manage personal finances (33%).
