The Growing Financial Strain on Employees: Insights from the 2024 Financial Health Pulse® Report

Young woman struggling with basic financial needs, such as how to pay for the energy bill

The financial health of working Americans has become alarmingly fragile, based on new findings in the Financial Health Network’s Financial Health Pulse® 2024 U.S. Trends Report. More than two-thirds of households (70%) financially unhealthy, and day-to-day financial health indicators—such as short-term savings, debt manageability, spending relative to income, and the ability to pay bills on time—have […]

How to Lower Your Healthcare Costs By Helping Financially Sick Employees

Frontline worker clutches chest, experiencing healthcare issues from high financial stress

If you’re like most benefits leaders who responded to Aon’s 2024 Health Survey, your top priority in 2024 has been managing healthcare costs, followed by investing in benefits that attract and retain employees, and support workforce health and wellbeing. Despite the inherent difficulty in that balancing act, it will soon become more challenging. Over the next […]

The Missing Piece in Wellbeing Benefits: Treatment for Financial Illness

Checklist of employee wellbeing indicators with all but financial selected

Benefits leaders invest so much time, energy, and resources into selecting wellbeing benefits that help employees thrive, personally and professionally.  Yet, more than 70% of employees are living paycheck to paycheck, and Americans are struggling with record levels of household debt.   This means that many employees and, by extension, their employers, are facing a crisis […]

Why It’s in Your Best Financial Interest to Help Employees Manage Debt

Financiall ill employee struggles to balance credit card bills with other bills

Employers, your employees carry record levels of household debt -and it directly impacts your business. The majority of Americans now call finances their biggest source of stress. The proportion of people who call their debt unmanageable has increased from 38% to 42%, in the past year alone. Credit card debt is the highest it’s been since 2003, and serious […]

7 Signs Your Employees Are Not Financially Healthy

Financially ill employee cannot make ends meet from one paycheck to the next.

If you’re like 68% of benefits leaders recently surveyed by Mercer, you plan to support employees’ financial wellbeing in 2025. But to see a positive impact on employees’ financial lives and organizational ROI from the benefit, it’s critical that you first understand the financial challenges and barriers they need help overcoming. More than 70% of […]

Emergency Money: Do Your Benefits Help Your Employees?

Frontline employee faces a money emergency when his car engine starts smoking

Financial shocks impact 60% of Americans each year and more than half struggle to make ends meet six months after the event. For financially vulnerable frontline employees challenged by low credit scores, costly debt, and no savings, just one money emergency can start a downward financial spiral that lasts years.  Without access to real solutions […]

Putting Earned Wage Access in its Place

Employee monitoring payday on calendar

This article was written by Tom Spann, Brightside CEO and co-founder, and originally published in HR Daily Advisor on June 6, 2024. In December 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced plans to outline how consumer lending laws interact with earned wage access (EWA) programs. These programs have grown in popularity as a solution […]

Beyond Financial Wellness: Financial Care for Frontline Workers

If you’re using financial wellness benefits to support your frontline workers, are you seeing any improvements in their financial situations? Most employers don’t – but it’s not their fault. These benefits aren’t designed to address this financially vulnerable group’s financial struggles, let alone improve their financial health. Brightside CEO and Co-founder Tom Spann and Amazon […]

How Brightside Helps Employees Find Money

Dollar sign image pointing in an up arrow

More than 70% of employees now live paycheck to paycheck, and 49% say high monthly bills are the biggest reason for their financial strain. As part of our mission to improve the financial health of working families, we provide employees with personalized support and real solutions to triage urgent financial needs, address root causes of […]