An employee with personal financial problems spends an average of 20 work hours per month dealing with them, according to Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation, a financial literacy nonprofit organization. And according to the Center for Responsible Lending, more than 50 percent of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, with no savings set aside for emergencies.
FEI Behavioral Health, an employee assistance program (EAP), wellness and crisis management provider based in Milwaukee, is helping employers address these problems with a new financial wellness program launched in August. The service is administered as an employee benefit through a partnership with Emerge Workplace Solutions.
Personal financial emergencies can lead employees to take out payday loans that provide quick cash but often charge up to 400 percent in long-term interest. These rates can encourage a repetitive churning effect, in which an individual has to take out another loan to recover from paying back the last one, said Ted Uczen, president of FEI.
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