ATLANTA, April 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- With April designated as Financial Literacy Month, Purchasing Power today released an infographic to shed light on employees' financial stresses that can negatively impact the workplace.  Additionally, the company is offering a toolkit of best practices that employers can implement to encourage financial wellness at the worksite.

Purchasing Power's financial wellness infographic, "Your Employees' Financial Problems Are Your Financial Problems," illustrates how keeping employees focused on the work that matters while at work is vital to any company's success.  Losing even one hour per week per employee can silently drain a company's bottom line.

The infographic explores what employees are worried about and how these financial issues can negatively affect the employer.  Top concerns of employees include:

• 28 percent have trouble meeting monthly household expenses;
• 48 percent are unable to make the major purchases they need; and
• 44 percent do not have at least $2,000 in emergency savings.

This leads to employees being stressed out about financial concerns and they admit it distracts them at work. According to the Purchasing Power Infographic, 44 percent of employees worry about personal finances while at work and 29 percent of employees admit they spend time at work dealing with personal financial problems.  Stress over money takes both a mental and physical toll on workers, impacting health-related costs, reducing productivity and affecting employee retention.

"Financially fragile employees – those who are living paycheck to paycheck and with little or no savings – not only need to increase their financial literacy, they also need a new way to manage credit and regain their financial footing," said Richard Carrano, president and CEO, Purchasing Power. "These employees can't come up with $1000, and when faced with an emergency or unexpected expense, they often arrive at decisions that only make their financial situations worse―which ultimately affects their on-the-job performance.  Employers are responsible for providing employees access to tools that help them with their finances," he added.  

Best practices for building workers' financial wellness include:

• Providing financial wellness education online resources;
• Implementing on-site money management and financial planning seminars;
• Directing employees to websites where they can obtain a free credit score and report;
• Recommending free sources of financial wellness information to employees, such as Quizzle.com's credit resource center which outlines what credit is, how it's used and what it affects, along with tips for refinancing a mortgage, buying a home, and insuring a car; and
• Offering no-cost and no-liability voluntary benefits that include financial planning counseling and employee purchase programs.

For example, employee purchase programs offered at the workplace as a payroll-deducted voluntary benefit promote disciplined purchasing through manageable payments and allow employees to purchase needed products and services ranging from computers to appliances, furniture and educational services.

"Many of our clients have successfully implemented employee purchase programs to help build financial wellness in their workers," Carrano pointed out.  "Employers who step up to the plate by providing the education and resources to help build financial wellness, as well as financing flexibility through an employee purchase program, are on their way to having healthier, happy and more productive employees," he concluded.

For more information on financial wellness, refer to Purchasing Power's white paper, Financial Wellness:  Addressing the "9 to 5" Impact of Employees' 24/7 Financial Stress.

About Purchasing Power
Headquartered in Atlanta, Purchasing Power is available to six million people through large companies – including Fortune 100s – and government agencies. Purchasing Power is one of the fastest-growing specialty e-retailers in the market offering a leading voluntary benefit program. Purchasing Power was honored for "World Class Service" by Smart Business, recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies for six years on the Inc 500|5000, and is one of "Atlanta's Best and Brightest Companies to Work For." Purchasing Power is 'Powering People to a Better Life™' through its employee purchase program, financial literacy efforts and charitable contributions. Purchasing Power is a Rockbridge Growth Equity, LLC Company. For more information, visit www.PurchasingPower.com.

SOURCE Purchasing Power