Zellis, the UK and Ireland’s leading provider of HR, pay, workforce management (WFM) and benefits solutions, has released its Financial Wellbeing Report 2025, exposing a deepening financial stress crisis affecting employees across both countries.
The report has been launched to shed light on the scale of financial anxiety in the workforce and to encourage employers to treat financial wellbeing as a core component of employee support.
The 2025 research paints a stark picture. According to Zellis, 92% of employees have experienced financial stress in the past year, while 89% say the strain has negatively affected them at work. Almost half admitted they struggle to focus when dealing with financial anxiety, and more than a quarter reported that it has made them less productive. Business leaders are not immune, with just 12% saying they have felt no financial worry at all.
Communication is also impacted: 38% of business leaders said stress has made it harder to communicate effectively with their teams.
Access to financial wellbeing tools was found to make a meaningful difference. The study shows that 54% of employees who have access to such tools expect their finances to improve in the next year, compared with 43% of the overall workforce. Of those with access, 78% used the tools at least once in the past 12 months, and almost half use them more than once per month. Additionally, 78% say they contribute more to the business when they feel confident about their financial situation.
Zellis chief innovation officer Gethin Nadin said, “the cost-of-living crisis has not only exposed the fragility of employee household finances but has also laid bare the limitations of traditional employer support. Despite the data, headlines, and lived experiences of millions of UK and Irish employees, too many organisations remain on the sidelines. But financial wellbeing of employees is no longer a peripheral concern – it is a business-critical imperative. This report shows employers must act not just out of compassion, but out of necessity for their own survival.”
As employers begin planning for 2026, Zellis is urging leadership teams to place financial fitness at the centre of people strategies. The organisation argues that long-term resilience, productivity and workforce confidence depend on proactive financial wellbeing support.
Zellis CEO Abigail Vaughan said, “Every organisation is focused on what comes next but this depends entirely on whether their people have the financial fitness to get there. Employers need to stop seeing financial wellbeing as a cost and instead realise it’s a crucial driver of growth and core to allowing people to reach their full potential. Employee financial wellbeing should be the concern of every member of the C-suite, not simply the concern of HR and People teams.”
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