More employers worry about their workers' financial wellbeing, research shows. Here's what they're doing about it

As many Americans struggle to keep up with the rising cost of living — housing, groceries, electricity and other necessities — their financial stress is getting more attention in the workplace.

In 2025, employer discomfort at their workers’ financial wellbeing reached a new high: 48% rated their concern at 9 or 10 on a scale of 1-to-10, compared with 43% in 2024 and only 39% in 2023, according to recent research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. As recently as 2019, the year before Covid, that share stood at 22%.

Since 2022, “we’ve seen employers shift away from retirement as the top area of concern toward more of the day-to-day cost of living issues, and budgeting and savings issues,” said Jake Spiegel, a senior research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

“Employees are feeling the squeeze from above-trend inflation,” Spiegel said.

Although inflation has eased to a yearly rate of 2.7% since peaking at 9.1% in June 2022, prices overall have climbed more than 25% since 2020, based on the consumer price index.