By Kirsten Stark
Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy (CCPL) has been delivering financial literacy workshops to workplaces in our community since 2011.
Financial literacy helps employees develop many essential workplace skills, including goal setting, time management, budgeting and planning.
Why is this training needed?
• 55 per cent of people are stressed about money.
• 42 per cent lack the necessary skills to manage their money.
• 70 per cent of people are living pay cheque to pay cheque.
• Debt is rising faster than income and assets.
• Employees with financial problems are more likely to have health issues related to stress.
Studies in Canada have shown the cost of a workforce with low financial literacy skills can be huge to employers and may often be linked to other literacy issues. Employees dealing with financial problems and the associated stress are likely to be preoccupied with these issues, significantly affecting their productivity at work.
How much is this affecting your bottom line? It can be $500-$3,000 per employee per year times 70 per cent of your workforce. For a small- to mid-sized business, this could be anywhere from $3,500 to $35,000 annually.
Financial literacy is the foundation of a strong and sustainable community that can weather the storm of economic instability. Show your employees how much you care by helping them improve their essential skills and get a huge return on a small investment.
More information is available on our website at www.caribooliteracy.com or join us on our Facebook page.
If you would like to know more about hosting financial literacy workshops for your employees, please contact kirsten@caribooliteracy.com.
Kirsten Stark is a CCPL literacy outreach worker.