Check your blind spot: Financial stress, mental health and suicide risk at work

The link between financial stress, mental health and suicide risk is well evidenced. Yet most employees won't tell you they are struggling. Jane Vivier and Alice Hendy MBE highlight what the data shows and what needs to change.

By Alice Hendy

Summary: Financial stress is a hidden but serious workplace risk. It’s driving poor mental health, reduced productivity and, in some cases, the risk of suicide. Despite the scale of the issue, many employees are staying silent. Current support systems are failing and financial wellbeing needs to be embedded into everyday workplace culture.

At a time when workplace wellbeing risks being dismissed as a political talking point, a more urgent reality is already present: financial stress is affecting mental health, behaviour and risk at work, but remains largely hidden from employers.

Many senior leaders are generations apart from much of their incoming workforce, which goes some way to explaining why these issues remain unaddressed.

When pressure builds in silence

The ongoing cost-of-living pressures, combined with inflation, high interest rates and wider economic uncertainty, have created sustained financial strain for many households. What began during the pandemic has not been resolved; in many cases, it has intensified.

A recent YouGov report found that 44 per cent of people they surveyed are struggling to pay food bills, while 37 per cent are struggling with energy bills.

Which? reports that eight per cent of households missed a bill or payment at the start of 2026, while 55 per cent have had to adjust budgets just to cover essentials.

This isn’t just a headline story. These are human beings coming to work every day with financial concerns burning in their minds, affecting their productivity and, in some cases, distracting them from the risks in their roles. That makes it an employer problem.

Alice Hendy MBE founded Ripple Suicide Prevention after losing her brother Josh to suicide. “I know what it looks like when financial pressure builds in silence. When someone feels too ashamed or frightened to name what they’re going through,” she commented. “Financial stress does exactly that: it isolates and compounds. Left unaddressed in the workplace, it becomes part of a wider risk picture we cannot ignore.”

These are human beings coming to work every day with financial concerns burning in their minds

Recent data shows nine in ten adults experienced high or extreme stress in the past year, with almost half (48 per cent) citing financial worries as a key driver.

Yet much of this remains hidden in the workplace. A Ripple Suicide Prevention study found that nearly half (45 per cent) of workers have dealt with mental health issues but chose to keep them hidden, out of fear that speaking up could jeopardise their job security or career progression. And one in 10 employees has experienced depression or suicidal thoughts while at work.

That silence creates a significant blind spot for employers. Financial stress is often not visible until it begins to significantly affect performance or behaviour. At this point intervention is already reactive rather than preventative.

Are EAPs failing the people who need them most?

Most employers have had an EAP for years. They add the number to redundancy letters, disciplinary invites and performance improvement plans. And then when an employee is courageous enough to seek help, they get given the same number.

EAPs for many feel punitive. There for the bad times and when crisis hits. That’s the way they have always been used. This is great for the risk-adverse corporate procurement but not the image needed to offer support and genuine help to employees.

EAPs need a rebrand as ‘lifestyle concierges’. It should be something embedded in everyday support and information. A

EAPs need a rebrand as ‘lifestyle concierges’

Reframing access to support

Knowing support exists is not the same as being able to reach it. For someone in financial difficulty, the barriers are often practical.

They may be avoiding their phone because of calls and texts from creditors. A helpline number on a redundancy letter is not a support system.

Support options need to cater for the communication preferences of all of the generations in the workplace. That means digital-first, multi-channel and accessible across generations – not just phone-based services.

Younger employees in particular are less likely to pick up the phone and more likely to seek help through digital channels. A more rounded ‘lifestyle concierge’ model could play a major role, but its potential remains largely untapped.

There is another access point employers are missing entirely.

When someone is struggling with financial difficulty or problem debt, they often turn to the internet where harmful content is just a click away. Those are critical moments that workplace support systems currently miss.

Why financial wellbeing cannot be a side issue

The business case is clear. Deloitte’s research puts the return on wellbeing investment at 470%. Yet organisations routinely spend more on benefits that fewer than half of employees use than on interventions that could change lives.

Data from FinWELL Training reinforces this: financial wellbeing programmes are linked to reduced stress (89 per cent of participants), increased performance and productivity (94 per cent), reduced absenteeism (88 per cent) and improved retention (87 per cent).

Improving financial wellbeing can be transformative for employers and employees and relatively low cost. It isn’t, however, another task for line managers.

If we rely on managers to spot the signs, we are already too late. It needs to be a professionally delivered, impartial service, embedded into business as usual: onboarding, personal development, benefits platforms, performance reviews and company communications.

We can no longer expect our employees to ‘leave their personal issues at the door’. They don’t stop worrying when they put on a uniform or log into a computer.

Bringing financial wellbeing into everyday workplace conversations is essential. When someone experiencing financial stress has nowhere to turn at work, they are left to manage it alone. That is the risk employers are carrying.

Financial wellbeing is part of an ongoing conversation about risk, culture and, ultimately, people.

Improving financial wellbeing can be transformative for employers and employees and relatively low cost

Actionable insights

Rethink your EAP: It’s often written off as a punishment rather than a support. It should be weaved into everyday moments such as onboarding, team updates and manager communications and talked about as a tangible, trusted resource.
Does your support offer actually meet people where they are?: A helpline on a letter isn’t going to reach someone who is struggling. Provide options like digital channels, messaging and online tools that don’t require someone to make a call they’re terrified of making.
Stop waiting for managers to notice: By the time a manager spots that something is wrong, the person has usually been struggling for a while. Financial wellbeing support needs to be professional, impartial and embedded into your organisation.
Bring financial wellbeing into the everyday: Look at where financial wellbeing can be woven naturally into existing processes. It’s not a special initiative, it should be part of how your organisation talks about people and performance.
Act on the data: If financial wellbeing isn’t getting budget or boardroom attention in your organisation, there are important numbers to bring to the conversation. April’s Financial Wellbeing Month, organised by FinWELL Training, Ripple Suicide Prevention and MHFA England, is a practical place to start.