Keeping money off your employees’ minds: How to quantify productivity gains from financial wellness programs

October 30, 2025

Drew Maginn

In their 2025 report, The State of Workplace Health and Wellness in Canada, Dialogue and Leger explored the health and well-being of employees across Canada, and the results aren’t great. While metrics linking wellness programs to performance improvements have been widely reported, it appears that many organizations are still not valuing the potential return on investment (ROI) of these kinds of initiatives. When asked about issues requiring the most support from employee assistance programs, employees reported help managing their financial situation as their top priority (53 per cent) – something that ranked higher than mental health, work-life balance and physical health. Whether you have an existing financial wellness program or are considering adding one to your benefits package, having the ability to clearly quantify its impact can ensure this critical area of support is given the attention it truly deserves.

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Making a financial wellness program business case

Before diving into specific metrics that can demonstrate the success of your financial wellness program, it’s important to make sure there is shared understanding in your organization of what a strong program should offer. According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, “Financial wellness programs in the workplace include supporting your employees with their ‘complete financial picture’ in order to reduce financial stress, strengthen their financial literacy and improve their financial well-being.” For these programs to be successful and demonstrate value, it’s important to keep this definition in mind as you roll out different components. Long gone are the days of booking an annual presentation from your benefits provider and leaving employees to fend for themselves. Without taking a customized approach to your program that meets employee needs across all of these areas, you’ll likely be challenged to make a convincing argument about its impact.

” While some may argue that an employee’s financial wellness is not the responsibility of their employer, it is becoming harder to ignore the impact it can have on productivity. ”

How to quantify wellness program productivity and return on investment

When setting out to measure the impact of your financial wellness program, there are a wide range of metrics that can be evaluated. These include direct return on investment (i.e., dollar savings) and indirect return on investment (i.e., “softer” indicators like staff-reported morale, engagement or confidence). While all are important to measure, depending on your program goals, direct return on investment is typically the best place to start when quantifying success, as senior leadership will typically want to see a greater financial return than what’s being invested into the program.

Metrics that indicate direct return on investment include the below.

Lower absenteeism: Measure by comparing average absenteeism before and after program implementation. If there is a reduction, multiply the difference by the organization’s daily or hourly salary costs. Even a reduction of one sick day per year in an organization of 50 employees can show significant impact (50 employees x $300 per day = $15,000).
Reduced “presenteeism,” or time lost to financial stress and distraction: Measure through before and after employee surveys with a simple question like “How often in a typical week does financial stress distract you at work?” Time gained back as a result of your program, either in hours or days, can be assigned a dollar value based on the average salary costs of the reporting employees.
Lower turnover: By comparing turnover rates before and after introducing your program, you can quantify results as savings by avoiding replacement costs associated with recruitment, orientation and training. The cost savings associated with replacing fewer employees can easily translate into thousands of dollars.
Fewer leaves of absence: Increased employee stress levels can often lead to leaves of absence that can have significant cost implications, including salary and benefits continuation for the absent employee, as well as allocations to replacement staff or overtime. Employees may disclose the reason for their leave, and if a component relates to financial stress, a reduction in these cases can be represented as cost savings for the organization.

Tips for tracking productivity gains after wellness program launch

While positive indicators for some or all of the metrics listed above can be combined to make the case for investment in financial wellness, they rely on alignment in key areas at the onset to avoid common challenges.

Verify program success indicators: Typically accomplished through an approved project charter or business case, make sure that key decision-makers in your organization verify at the onset which success indicators are important to them. Misalignment on these indicators can spell disaster if your evaluation plan relies on staff-reported data when your senior management simply wants to see the results in cost savings.
Validate your baseline data: If baseline data will be compared pre- and post-program implementation, do a deep dive to ensure that this information is reliable and up to date. If you want to show cost savings through reduced absenteeism, you might find yourself scrambling if tracking practices are inconsistent across the organization.

Take the time needed to demonstrate impact: In the interest of getting financial wellness programs “green lit” by senior management, you may find yourself overcommitting to results that are difficult to demonstrate in a condensed time frame. Along with identifying your indicators of success, build in realistic timelines for implementation and measurement to ensure you have the time needed for your program to be planned, implemented and evaluated.

While a thoughtfully developed financial wellness program can yield significant results, both for your employees and your organization, it’s important to demonstrate impact on an ongoing basis. While some may argue that an employee’s financial wellness is not the responsibility of their employer, it is becoming harder to ignore the impact it can have on productivity. Among employee worries, financial stress continues to rise, and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon. However, if organizations are willing to commit time and resources to this work, including evaluation, they may begin to see positive changes in their workforce, along with their balance sheet.

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