Financial stress kills productivity and ruins our social lives: survey

Financial stress is absolutely soaring among workers, and that stress is getting more and more costly.

BrightPlan, a digital financial adviser, conducted market research for its 2023 Wellness Barometer Survey, which relied on feedback from 1,400 workers—including 500 HR Leaders, 100 C-Suite executives, and 800 full-time employees—in companies of 1,000 or more. Some key highlights:

• An astonishing 92% of employees are stressed about finances (up from 72% in 2022).
• 76% of C-Suite and HR leaders are also feeling the strain.
• Driving the worry are inflation (96%), rising interest rates (90%), and market volatility (89%). 

Meanwhile, all of this looming monetary dread isn’t just contained to 3 a.m. anxiety dreams. It has a massive impact on productivity during the 9-to-5 workday. Workers estimated they are losing an entire day of work every week to the attention-zapping financial stress. And the growing concern about troubling financial matters isn’t just making workers worse at their jobs—it’s making them worse at managing their personal relationships. 

Too stressed to dress

Employees are so overwhelmed by their finances that about 80% say they’re cutting expenses. They don’t just mean axing their monthly CrossFit pass or Massive Envy membership. For many, the cuts are so deep that they are directly impacting social lives:

• 72% of respondents say they’ve missed a social gathering because they were too concerned about the cost to attend.
• Likewise, 42% skipped a trip with friends or family.
• 42% also passed up invites to grab dinner or drinks. 

Bar tabs can be costly, and it might make sense to rein in the spending on Wine Wednesday, Thirsty Thursdays, or Saucey Mom’s Saturday (or whatever adorable nicknamed night of the week you prefer to imbibe on). Still, folks are cutting out more than cocktails. They’re also missing out on big life events because of their budgets:

• 32% of workers say they skipped an event or gathering because they didn’t have a proper outfit.
• 29% missed an event, like a wedding or a birthday, because they simply couldn’t afford a gift. 
• 64% feel their relationships have been negatively impacted by the financial strain they’re under. 

Crushing financial stress certainly seems to be dimming our social lives in new and depressing ways. What’s not new is that most people still aren’t comfortable discussing finances with friends. Just 56% of employees say they chat openly about their money. With so many missed events and get-togethers—and so little talk about the why—it makes sense that we’re looking at a serious friendship recession. As it stands, we already spend far less time with friends than we did a decade ago.

Chances are, we could all benefit from a little more candor (as well as paycheck bumps) about our concerns, at least with our close personal friends. But the added strain might be a pretty good reason to lean into that cutesy “no gifts” trend that’s become popular at children’s birthday parties in recent years.

Likewise, it’s probably time to rethink that destination wedding, unless your idea of a good party is a party of two.